In alphabetic order, here are the 2-character abbreviations that are recognized by the United States Postal Service (USPS) for the 50 states of the US:
AK AL AR AZ CA CN CO DE FL GA
HI IA ID IL IN KS KY LA MA MD
ME MI MN MS MO MT NC ND NE NH
NJ NM NV NY OH OK OR PA RI SC
SD TN TX UT VA VT WA WI WV WY
I will not identify them all here, but can you name all 50 states from their postal abbreviations only?
Here are six more 2-character codes for one district and five territories that also are part of the United States:
DC AS GU MP PR VI
They are, in order, the District of Columbia (the national capital city of Washington); the three Pacific territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Marianas Islands; and the two Atlantic territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
The people of both the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have voted to become states but to date the US Congress has not agreed to let them do so.
Here are the 2-character postal abbreviations for the 10 provinces and three territories of the nation of Canada, which if Donald Trump gets his way (I hope he doesn't) would become the US's 51st state:
AB BC MB NB NL NS NT NU ON PE QC SK YK
They are Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Northwest Territorirs, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Yukon.
I know very little about Mexico, our neighbor to the south. At one time its capital, Mexico City, was called Mexico DF (for Distrito Federales) but I believe that is no longer the case. According to various sources there are 30 or 31 or 32 states in Mexico. I can't begin to name them all but I can tell you a few of them: Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Sonora, Veracruz, Yucatan.
You are hereby invited to share with your fellow RRs (rhymeswithplague readers) some equally boring but potentially fascinating details about political subdivisions or postal
abbreviations in your vicinity in the comments.
Fascinating details of postal abbreviations and political subdivisions, eh?
ReplyDeleteWell my local council area electorate is Georges River, state area is Oatley, federal electorate is Banks.
I'm sure you're fascinated so far.
All NSW postcodes start with 2 and since working in a job where I post things everyday I know the starting numbers of all the other states but the codes I know by heart are the ones in my local area.
You always find something new and random to talk about
I can manage to figure out that NSW must mean New South Wales, but what are the other big-state abbreviations in Australia? The U.S. also uses local postal “zip codes” that originally were 5-digit numeric but later expanded with 4-digit extension (nnnnn-nnnn). In the southeastern US (Georgia, Alabama, Florida, etc.) they start with 3. In Texas, where I grew up, they start with 7. In the northeastern states of New England, they start with 0. In the Pacific Northwest area, they start with 9. Like I said, fascinating. Well, potentially anway. Thank you, kylie in NSW.
DeleteQLD Queensland
DeleteNT Northern Territory
WA Western Australia
SA South Australia
VIC Victoria
TAS Tasmania
ACT Australian Capital Territory
Two things stood out to me as I read your list. First, Canada also has an NT (NorthwestTerritory) and the United States also has a WA (Washington state, where Seattle is). Secondly, you have Northern and Western but South, not Southern. Oh, and thirdly, some of the state abbreviations are two letters and some are three, very similar Mexico’s list, which I didn’t include in the post. And finally (fourthly?), I do find such differences fascinating, but then I am a “details” person. A weird “details” person, where, I am reminded, the devil usually is. Maybe we have just identified the root of my problems. Thank you, kylie!
DeleteI live in HD8. Before we had all this rubbish, I grew up in Yorks.
ReplyDeleteNot tonight,dear, I have a HD8. Thank you, Tasker!
DeleteYou stumped me with the MP abbreviation. This was fun.
ReplyDeleteI had to check out MP myself (I don’t know everything). I think MP originally covered the Marianas and Palau (hence, MP), but in 1994 Palau became an independent country. Thank you, Emma. I’m glad you had fun.
Delete