I would not know having not been a member 70 years ago. Colloquially you might be right, officially you are in error as the most recent progression from “Young Men’s Christian Association” to the “YMCA” to simply the “Y” is rather new. I am not fond of the citation.. but am not one to shoot the messenger, rather to only validate the message: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/us/12Y.html?_r=0
““Young Men’s Christian Association” to the “YMCA” to simply the “Y” is rather new”
When I was a kid ages ago, we called it the “Y”. If anyone told us to go the YMCA we would have said ‘the what?’ Only after I was older did I know what the letters stood for.
” officially you are in error as the most recent progression from “Young Men’s Christian Association” to the “YMCA” to simply the “Y” is rather new.”
A review of historic photos of their buildings shows that YMCA was most commonly used on the outside.