I see that poor simple girl with the golden voice has now been rechristened SuBo.

The Mayor of London is already referred to as BoJo, and it is clear that we Brits have enthusiastically embraced this strange American nomenclature.

It’s actually been around for years. London’s Soho district apparently got its name from an old hunting cry, but New York’s SoHo (note the camelcase ‘H’) derives from the geographical fact that it’s SOuth of HOuston Street (although Microsoft Word doesn’t like me typing that). TriBeCa is the TRIangle BElow CAnal Street. One rather desperate one is WaHi for Washington Heights, an obscure part of Manhattan where tourists seldom tread. There are many more examples, but the first time I heard it applied to a person was to the singer Jennifer López, who became J.Lo.

But what we benighted foreigners can’t quite figure out are the rules of engagement — what names are we allowed to truncate so brutally? It clearly helps if the second part rhymes with Joe. I don’t believe BarOb would get past the Académie Americaine.

And I don’t see the Mayor of New York referred to as MiBlo.

I guess it’s a NeYo state of mind.

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