MC

MC can be used:

(along with emcee), as the abbreviation for Master of Ceremonies (also, see below)
(along with M.C.), as the British military decoration - the Military Cross
as the ccTLD for Monaco, .mc
to mean Microcomputer, though the term is becoming obsolete. (The term "microcomputer" has largely been superseded by "Personal computer".)
(along with m/c), as the abbreviation for machine
as the abbreviation for Member of Congress
(along with m/c), as the abbreviation for the city of Manchester in England

In the 1970s and 1980s, the term MC (short for Master of Ceremonies, and sometimes misrendered emcee) was generally associated, in hip-hop music, with what is now called rapping. MC has also sometimes been reported to stand for Microphone Controller, but this appears to be a backronym. This uncertainty over the letters' expansion may however be evidence to the ubiquitousness of the acronym: the full Master of Ceremonies is very rarely (if ever) used in the rap scene.

The confusion prompted the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest to include this statement on their Midnight Marauders album (1993):

"The title 'MC' means 'Master of Ceremonies'. Some people who MC don't know what this term means."

(Note the use of MC as a verb.)


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