Re: Abbreviating States' Names

[Steve Fouts <sfouts -at- ELLISON -dot- SC -dot- TI -dot- COM>]

Well, I think we've about flogged this poor dog to death, but the general
rule is something like this: If the state's name is composed of two words,
then it is always the initials of the state. If only one word then it
seems the default is the first two letters of the state's name unless the
first and the last "look better" or something. Exceptions are made when
either of the two defaults would lead to a conflict -- Alabama and Alaska
both share AL as the first two and A as the last. Exeptions also for
Tennesse and Texas. I don't know why.

> Alabama -- Ala.               AL
> Alaska -- none                AK      AL taken, AA could also be Arizona
> Arizona -- Ariz.              AZ      AR taken, AA could also be Alaska
> Arkansas -- Ark.              AR
> California -- Calif.          CA
> Colorado -- Colo.             CO
> Connecticut -- Conn.          CT
> Delaware -- Del.              DE
> Florida -- Fla.               FL
> Georgia -- Ga.                GA
> Hawaii -- Ha.                 HI
> Idaho -- none                 ID
  Illinois                      IL
> Indiana -- Ind.               IN
> Iowa -- none                  IA
> Kansas -- Kans.               KS
  Kentucky                      KY
> Louisianna -- La.             LA
> Maine -- none                 ME
> Maryland -- Md.               MD
  Massachusetts                 MA
> Michigan -- Mich.             MI
> Minnesota -- Minn.            MN      Note that there are four states
> Mississippi -- Miss.          MS      that begin with Mi, two of these
  Missouri                      MO      also have i as the last letter.
> Montana -- Mont.              MT      MO and MA already used
> Nebraska -- Neb.              NB      Both Neb. and Nev. start w/ NE
> Nevada -- Nev.                NV      and end w/ A, so NV & NB
> New Hampshire -- N.H.         NH
> New Jersey -- N.J.            NJ
> New Mexico -- N.M.            NM
> New York -- N.Y.              NY
> North Carolina -- N.C.        NC
> North Dakota -- N.D.          ND
> Ohio -- none                  OH
> Oklahoma -- Okla.             OK
> Oregon -- Ore.                OR
> Pennsylvania -- Pa.           PA
> Rhode Island -- R.I.          RI
> South Carolina -- S.C.        SC
> South Dakota -- S.D.          SD
> Tennessee -- Tenn.            TN      ? Why not TE & TS ?
> Texas -- Tex.                 TX      ? Who knows?
> Utah -- none                  UT
> Vermont -- Vt.                VT
> Washington -- Wash.           WA
  West Virginia                 WV
> Wisconsin -- Wis.             WI
> Wyoming -- Wy.                WY


Why did Chuck leave out five states? Is it a coincidence that four of
them are contiguous? I support the conspiracy theory!!
********************
*     _    ___     * Steve Fouts
*    ( |____|      * sfouts -at- ellison -dot- sc -dot- ti -dot- com
*   _ /\    |\ _   *
*  / /  \  _| \ \  * "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend
* ( * )  \/_|__* ) *  in vain."
*  \_/  _/    \_/  *                          -Schiller
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