1 Utama or One Utama - 1U or OU?

I had a couple of arguments with different people on different occasion regarding how we should refer to 1 Utama in short form. Most of my closer circle of friends call it 1U, and yet others call it OU.

Well, it's not important as to whether we call it 1U or OU as they both represent 1 Utama Shopping Centre. The two terms are also already shorter terms to the shopping complex, where upon speech it's in two syllables. The only difference then would be one be in number and the other in word.

Personally, I feel that OU is a wrong term to a more correct 1U, and I can tell you factors to my reason. But first, I interviewed a few people to find out what they think:

• My brother Caine said: "1U. The logo."
• My brothers girlfriend Suz: "1U. erm .. 1U because .. we tend to pronounce 1 as ONE and .. if it's OU we pronounce it as "O" ? hahaha .. i guess it has been set in our mind."
  
• My college mate Ruz said: "1U. Since they already short-formed the 'Utama' to 'U' why not do so to the 'One' to '1'?
• My church mate Ben Ong said: "1U is a better term because OU might be misinterpreted as something else."
• Another church mate of mine Lordson quoted: "Because its ONE utama so 1U sounds more appropriate then O U."
• Phebe said: "OU. 1U sounds capelang... sound malayish... and its more fluent? frens say it dat way?"
• Jia Wei: "cos its One Utama, so it's OU."
• Ng Simin: "1U, cause all mt frens says it tat way."
• Kha Yee: "1U. Sounds nicer."
• Aik Sern: "1U lah. one = 1 in its true form. why use short form for the number its already short?"
• Former school mate Chee Seng said: "1U. It's related to the logo."
• LUCT college mate Derick: "OU. I have to go, I'll let you know later."
• Nathelly Wee: "OU. Easier to say."
• Ellen Chua: "OU. other ppl call it ou as well."
• A friend of mine Sam Teng: "1U, cuz it's unique with the former being a numeral which the latter being an alphabet, hence it's alphanumeric. and 'O' can mean many other words which start with the letter O. Like OUG - overseas union garden."
• Church mate Matthew: "OU. its just commonly used, just used to saying that."
  
• Wei Wen: "1U." He then proceeds to draw the logo and send it to me.

Here you have it, I spontaneously asked those online in my list at this very time I'm typing this post. With the above, I came down with a couple of theories:

• Generally, my older circle of friends seemed to use 1U, while my younger circle of friends use OU. I guess that 1U was the original term than the newly used OU."
• Each individual would use the term their closer circle of friends use. However it's not necessarily true as some of the interviewees above are close friends but still use different terms
• For those who said it's easier to say or it's nicer to hear, these answers I consider redundant. As I said before, both terms are of two syllables. Would it matter whether I spend more time or breath to say either?
• Many use their respective terms whilst being oblivious about why they use it. It's nothing wrong with that, there are many things in our lives we are oblivious about. We just have to be observant.

And now, my arguments:

• I agree with Ruz, why not make it shorter with 'One' to '1'? Besides, if I would to write it down in a piece of paper, both in full name and in short form, I'd take less effort to write down 1U (less writing strokes) and 1 Utama (less alphabets).
• Ben and Sam have legal arguments, the initials OU, though we all know it's 1Utama, it could very well be interpreted to something else, thus causing confusion. Also, very rarely any party use numerical for the first half of the name, so it's unique.
• If you google out in Malaysian Web Page - "1U" and "OU", 1U's first result is the official site of 1 Utama, whereas OU will have multiple results.
• The logo of 1 Utama , it's clear that it is a number "1" before Utama.
• "There is a great deal of dispute over whether the name of the mall is "One Utama" or "1 Utama". A recent press release by the management (Bandar Utama City Centre Sdn. Bhd.) states that the official name is 1 Utama Shopping Centre and not "One Utama" or "1-Utama". This move was meant to limit the confusion of its name, although either one of the mentioned names are easily understood and cannot be confused because of their same meaning." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Utama#Naming_Confusion

There you go, these are my points, Well, personally I wouldn't want to reference Wikipedia because anyone can alter it to their liking, however it's the only internet reference and with it it boosts my arguments. If anyone of you have anything to say against the above, I'm open for criticism. But I believe the above are strong enough points to support reason why 1U is a more correct term.

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Ok. Arguments aside, what have I been doing lately? I'll keep short and simple.

• Sharon had her long overdue-d house warming, where we were invited.
• The Aiks had an unofficial gathering at their place. They'll have an official one soon.
• We gave Wei Wen a birthday surprise.

That's about it, I'm not up to upload the pictures. That is all for now.

To everyone,
Blessed Holidays