The use of “The Lou” is another example of the PD ignoring the readers. It is a minor issue, yes, but PEOPLE DON’T LIKE IT. Why do you continue to use it?

Yeah. I don’t like it either. Leave that kind of strangeness to the Evening Whirl.

I cannot stand when seeing St. Louis referred to as “The Lou.” Please stop.

It is not hip. It is not cute. It is not even recognized by anyone outside of the metro area as referring to St. Louis.

It doesn’t take many extra keystrokes to type St. Louis. Stop referring to our home as a toilet.

PLEASE stop using The Lou! We HATE it and you just don’t seem to get it. Your lack of respect for your readers is part of the reason the Post continues to lose circulation. Find writers who love our city as much as we do or forget it.

Using “The Lou” makes this city sound silly and insignificant. It could refer to any number of places in the US besides St. Louis. How would you like it if we started refering to the St. Louis Post Dispatch as the SLPD???

While I don’t like the term “The Lou” in reference to our city, I am constrained to point out that the British slang to which you all refer is spelled “loo”. So the PD is not calling the city a toilet.

It would help your criticism to be taken seriously if you would do your research.

Kathy, I believe what we are referring to is the phonetic sound of “the loo”, not the spelling. And I think that it’s ridiculous that we have to try and shorten everything. We named this city St. Louis and that is what we should call it.

…………..I agree with the upset reader, “The Lou” sounds at best as if a juvenile coined the nickname.

St. Louis needs all of the image help it can get and “The Lou” does not help the cause.

I agree with the critics. I find the reference demeaning, foolish and a by-product of a challenged imagination.

Add another vote against ‘The Lou’. When I encounter it in an article (Deb, I already told you this) I just stop reading right there and move on. Of course, I live out in ‘The Pete’, so my vote probably doesn’t count for much.

Perhaps the venerable Post-Dispatch (PD) should henceforward just be called “The Peed.” Usage: I was reading the Peed in the Lou … That continues the motif nicely …

“The Lou” is SO contrived and strained. I would bet a large sum of money that it was dreamed up by someone who was not a native St. Louisan–and further, has no feel for the city or the area.

I believe “The Lou” was started by a particular rap artist. ENOUGH SAID

Yeah, calling St. Louis ‘The Lou’ is bad for the city — not the bad schools, or the big empty lot once destined to become Ballpark Village, or the riverfront being separated from downtown, or the No. 1 rankings for STDs and asthma….

The Lou is a legit way to refer to st. louis, so all you old people need to get off it. Concentrate your efforts on getting those damned kids to stop skateboarding on your property or encouraging your nephew to pull up his “short pants.”

Kathy, I am well aware of the spelling differences, but the phoenetic pronunciation is enough to make the term inappropriate.

Philip, just as I’d like to tell the adolescents who insist on displaying their undergarments, we will get no respect from others until we display it for ourselves. And for the record, I’m under 35.

I always thought that use of “The Lou” was promoted by the P-D to reach young folks who MIGHT be enticed into subscribing when they saw how hip and street-wise the P-D had become (well, at least ONE of its writers had become…).
Honestly - do ANY of its writers, save Ms. Peterson, use this term?

How about a poll to see who actually LIKES the term? Couple the vote with a requirement that the voter state whether s/he is an actual subscriber to the paper.

I join those who ask the Post to please, please stop using the phrase “The Lou.” It’s lame.

What is the big deal? It’s just a fun way of referring to St. Louis! It does not demean the city whatsoever. This is so overblown. Guaranteed this grumbling is primarily perpetrated by old people. You had your time to shine; sit back, retire and get older and hopefully not more senile.

How about St. Loserville?

You guys all need to find a hobby or something. This really doesn’t deserve all the grumbling it’s getting. It really bothers you that much? I certainly don’t care what people call my city. Words are just words; they’re only derrogatory or offensive if someone wants them to be, and I’m guessing that this paper isn’t looking to demean our city.

Lighten up, folks.

I have not seen what editor told his head line editor do abuot this problem.

Its just a slang word

“The Lou” = St. Louis
“Chi-Town” = Chicago
“Nap Town” = Indianapolis
“La La Land” = Los Angeles

If you need something to do besides complain about a writing using words you dont like, GET A HOBBY.

Do you write every Author and complain to them because they use a word you dont like…

Everyone, to soccer moms, to business people, to 5 yr old’s use slang everyday, get use to it, welcome to the real world.

You people need to chill out about this “Lou” thing and focus on something more important…say, for example, helping to lift this city out of the toilet. People inside and outside of the city frequently refer to STL(gasp! another St. Louis nickname) as “the Lou”. This is especially true of St. Louisians living elsewhere in the state. And it’s not because we’re all just dying to be hip. They know that in Britian a “loo” is a toilet and that’s kind of the point. Most people I know use it as a term of endearment for a city they love but know is not nearly as good as it could be. But instead of thinking creatively about the high crime, bad schools, poor city planning (urban sprawl certainly doesn’t help), etc, we’re going to concentrate on whether we should be using its proper name or a nickname to identify this deteriorating city.

Phillip, “The Lou” may not be a big deal to you, but those of us who were born, raised and lived here all our lives find it offensive to hear our city being referred to something that implies a toilet. As far as the “older” people being told to take a back seat to the “younger” people, no way. We’re here to stay!

I’m 52 and the people who are uptight about this make me laugh. People in San Francisco bitch about people calling their city ‘Frisco’ and we all thought San Franscisco was the most open and accepting place of people on earth! I only thought people my age were uptight about things. I guess New York pubs should stop calling one of their entertaiment districts. I mean, what do people really think of when they hear the HO in SoHo?

St. Loserville? I think their hockey team is the Blosers.

Thanks, Kathy!

I’m further impressed by how well written (spelling and grammar) these posts are. Not that my opinion matters. I’m just a trained journalist who appreciates when readers take to task questionable journalistic practices.

Bob9123:
The entry below is from an Editors’ Desk entry in May, when a few readers complained because we used “The Lou” in a promotional skyteaser over the flag on Page One.
My response then: “So why use it if we know some readers are going to be offended? My own take is that we wouldn’t use “Lou” in a real headline, because it is slang — and slang rarely has a place in a front-page headline. But it’s fine in a promotional teaser that sends readers to info on Cinco de Mayo, a day designed for drinking and partying.
“This topic last came up in the Editor’s Desk in January, when “the Lou” also appeared in a skyteaser to the Get Out section. Several commented then that they and their friends frequently refer to St. Louis as the Lou. One person who says he commonly uses the term is the page designer who did today’s front page — and wrote the teaser.”
So my take is that — along the lines of a skyteaser — using Lou in a headline for The Stir is fine. You see the types of stories The Stir sends you to. The Stir is supposed to be fun, loose and edgy.
“Lou” in a headline in the paper, no. In The Stir, it’s fine.

Many people are complaining that we shouldn’t use “The Lou” because it’s a nickname. But does everyone type out “St. Louis” in every text message, e-mail and Twitter they write? I use “STL” all the time. It’s not the same nickname, but it’s still a shortened version.

Also, as far as I know “The Lou” was not created or ever used to refer to St. Louis as a toilet. It’s simply a shortened version of the actual name for the city.

Why not St. Lou? or SanLou? Whenever people use “the Lou” I think of Lou Brock, not the city. Sorry, I don’t think St. Louis has ever been hip enough to need or use a nickname. I mean, there is St. Chuck, isn’t there?

Here’s an email sent to me from Stel Pontikes of Y98/KEZK:

As a fellow media member, I’m not a fan of “the Lou” either. To me, it sounds silly. I never hear folks around town, or listeners who call me in the Y98 studio, ever refer to St. Louis as “the Lou.”

In a similar way, I read and hear media folks refer to the Blues as “the Note.” Good grief…no one on the street EVER refers to the Blues, in casual conversation, as “the Note.” I’ve never heard someone say “did you watch the Note last night?”

Same thing in the music biz. A lot of industry folks seem to think it’s hip to say that an album or a new song “drops” on a certain date. Not only does that sound stupid, but you never hear normal folks on the street refer to new releases that way.

Another example, since I’m from Chicago, is that Chicago folks never refer to the city as Chitown. Granted, you may see it show up once in a while in print, but folks on the street never refer to the city that way in conversation. It’s the same in San Francisco…the locals never call it Frisco. And they know you’re from out-of-town if you do.

So even though Lou Brock may love it, I say flush “the Lou,” no matter what Deb Peterson may think.

I don’t care for it. I consider it to be lazy and reflective of the dumbing down of society in general and the newspaper in particular. If the paper is attempting to pull in new, young readers with “cute” names, that isn’t going to happen.

Using newsprint to try to imitate texting or twittering doesn’t work. It’s bad enough hearing a kid talk like that, but it’s worse when trained journalists insist on doing it.