tgallo, when I have a newsworthy topic, I write about it for the newspaper.
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JohnWicket, thanks for the Chicago info. We could go on forever about why our cities are named as they are.
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And duplicate names: There are several Janesvilles and Beloits around the country, but I have heard that Waunakee is the only place of that name in the world.
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And nicknames: Orfy, Janesburg/JanesVegas ...

Frank, I think the next topic should be about city names like Chicago. It is often called the Windy City, Chitown, or Second City. Some say its name came from Algonquian for "onion field" or "skunk." The Miami-Illinois called it shikaakwa which meant "wild leeks". Today, some travelers refer to it as Shicago or Sh__cago. I wonder if these rovers know that they are getting back to the Indian origins of the name. What about you?

Mount, Shmount. Make a decision and go with it. You likely won't lose subscriptions because of your choice, Just make certain you are consistent. Don't you have a more news-worthy topic to cover?

We SEE Mt Zion, we say Mount Zion...for now. If we don't see it a FEW places, we'll start telling people to turn on Empty Zion and who wants to say that? You're not type-setting by hand...spell it out and give us a chance of saying it right for another generation or two... I don't actually get why we have more abbreviation arguments NOW than we did historically since we don't have a "typesetting" argument...

Hornet, if it's a paid obituary, you should have the right to use "passed away". It isn't offensive or crude like "croaked" or "kicked the bucket". If the paper is picking up the tab, that's a different story. But as A. J. Liebling was quoted as saying: "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one."

As for Mt. vs Mount, Mt. is a perfectly valid abbreviation when space is at a premium.

I'm losing sleep over this one. I hope that the committee makes the right call...

I'm losing sleep over this one. I hope that the committee makes the right call...

Worry about content, fact accuracy, not abbreviations.

This is crap. An abbreviation is just that. Jas for James or Jno for Jonathon.
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Been working on an obituary and that local paper doesn't want me to use "passed away" -- I have to use "died". WTH? My deceased family member would prefer "passed away".
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What's with the newspaper-nazi police?

Don't take the shortcut! Spell it out!

fschultz"hill called Zion Hill "
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been here 41 years and no clue what this is- where is it?

IS Mount short for Mountain Zion- things that make you go huummm. ? lol

Somebody please explain the point at head and say M T. ah got it now that I said it S L O W E R.
I was angry about a road
---- crossing
in the phone book it said xing.
put it into nav and it took it luckily- xing.
jmo-
I think if in a name of something yes write it out- but in the phonebook- street name can abrev- such as xing- just haven't seen it yet so it was weird.
In just blogging or everyday typing MT is fine
just liek XMas but oh my lets not go there!

Yo,hg, the difference is in the spelling, not the saying...unless you are saying Mt. "em-tee" Zion. :-)

hg, if you'd read the post, you would realize Frank is talking about something that is his responsibility at his job. This is about how the Gazette should say things. Nobody is telling you how to say them.

Thirdeye: That is so true.

I prefer Mount Zion. When I use Mt. Zion, I feel as though I am using those pesky abbreviation rules that the Chicago Tribune used years ago.

If I am talking to you and I say,"Go down Mount Zion for two blocks....", or I say,"Go down Mt.Zion for two blocks...", which one is said correctly? And how would you tell the difference? Would I be accused of improper speach if I said it the wrong way? Would I be fined or imprissoned? Perhaps we should try to get a law passed that we can only say it one way.

Thanks to all for the comments. I am learning things I didn't know, which I like. As a 21-year resident, I had never heard that Janesville had an actual hill called Zion Hill or a Mount Zion.
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I lived in Israel for a while, back in another lifetime, and the original hill there is called Har Tzion, spelled in Hebrew characters, of course, or Jabel Shayun, the Arabic name, in Arabic characters. "Har" and "jabel/jebel"
mean mountain. I can't say that I've ever seen "Har" abbreviated, but that doesn't mean it isn't, at least on maps or road signs, where, in any language, space can be a scarce commodity.
-- The Badger

JReb: There may be more things to worry about but one can't worry about them 24-7.

Boy, I wish all I had to do was to sit around and argue about petty crap like this. You asked if it made a difference? Well, here is my opinion. NO! There are more important issues happening around this town than worry about if someone abreviates the word Mountain, Mount or whatever. Everyone knows they all mean the same thing. LMAO at the nonsence. Oh sorry perhaps I should have spelled that out.

So do spell the city Saint Louis?

Whatever is decided regarding Mount or Mt. the fact remains that I never drive on Mount Zion Avenue. Why you may ask? Because there are always several cars driving at or below the speed limit adequately spaced to impede normal drivers.
Never have figured out why this street and not others.

I side with you, Frank. It's not a mountain, it's not the same as abbreviating street or avenue. It's simply a shortcut that someone started, but in this case it's not really correct. It should be Mount. Just my two cents worth.
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But, curious, now that I'm thinking about it...if the source of the name is Mount Zion, as in Israel, does it get abbreviated to Mt. there? Probably not, I'm guessing.

There are more important things in life to worry about!

Yes. I care. It should be Mount Zion.

Just because Mt....."has been around for a long time" does not make it correct

The Gazette serves its readers, not those profiteering ink companies!!!!@#@^(*$@
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But seriously, if we vary from AP style on this, we either have to change it in every wire story or look sloppy. "Street" is abbreviated in numbered addresses at six letters, but "drive" is not at five; if that is any indication, "mount" shouldn't be abbreviated, either. In any case, it would be nice if the AP Stylebook included more rationale for their decisions for our reference.

with the election season in full swing, and the old adage that you dont get into a fight with someone that buys "ink by the barrel", i would assume "MT" would use less ink than "Mount", thus leaving the local newspaper to print more biased articles !! Easy Call..

Frankly, I think you're making a mount (Mt.) out of a molehill. I drive over it at least 5 times a week and I think it should be renamed Zion Hill. But that name would be far less majestic.

Every style book I ever used, plus plain common sense, dictate that if it's a place name it should be spelled out. If it connotes an actual mountain, then abbreviate. Unless you want to start using "Robt." and "Wm." -- among others -- for proper nouns, in which case you might as well just use "Jvl." in every article, since we all know what it stands for. No. Do not abbreviate proper nouns.

Frank, in my opinion, the only way to settle this is for you and the other editor to arm wrestle or some other form of personal combat that doesn't hurt too much. The winner would have the say of either Mount or Mt.

Mt is Mount.... just like Mr is mister... welcome to the age of abbreviations, where you been the last 100+ years? Makes no difference.

I wouldn't put a lot of weight behind your position, Frank. "Mt." is an abbreviation that's een around for a pretty long time. There are over 10,000 citations for its usage in Google Books for just the 19th century, a comparatively formal era.
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As I said last time, I have little use for arbitrary rules that simply perpetuate a prejudice of some grammarian. The usage of "Mt." is obviously of some use on maps and street signs, so geographic features almost demand abbreviation. Thus, "Mt. Zion" for both the hill east of town (do people still remember there is an actual hill named Mt. Zion?) and the Janesville street. As a proper name, the church may prefer to be spelled out or not. The only other exception, for me, would be the start of a sentence (as "Mount Zion is a hill east of town." or, just barely, any time it is actually the subject or object in a sentence.) But I see no reason to spell it out each and every time, and absolutely in an address it should be "9999 Mt. Zion". To me, it would make equally as little sense to spell out "Street", "Avenue" or "Boulevard" each time.
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By the way, here's the hill record at the USGS, with various mapping links for those into such things:
http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/...

I go to Mount Zion United Methodist Church and I perfer to correctly call it Mount Zion.

I live on Mount Zion Ave.
I never abbreviate the Mount. When I first moved there, I tried to enter the address on Mt. Zion online to have something shipped to me and an error message came back stating that it was not a valid address. I re-entered it as Mount and it worked. I've been spelling it this way ever since. Not that anyone cares....