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Archiver > PAF-5-USERS > 2003-09 > 1063644720


From: "John Vilburn" <>
Subject: Re: [PAF-5] State Abbreviations and USA
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 10:52:21 -0600
References: <IJEIKFMIIHDKKBFPGGGIIEHOCAAA.rhaldy@comcast.net> <01d801c37ba7$a3396b70$c0adfd0c@CazierOffice>


PAF Pal has a function that changes state abbreviations for you.

John

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dick Cazier" <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 10:37 AM
Subject: Re: [PAF-5] State Abbreviations and USA


> I have been following this subject with great interest. I'm now convinced
> that the use of two letter state abbreviation postal codes is a bad idea.
> But, almost all of my states are coded that way. My database contains
over
> 30,000 individuals. All of my place entries are in the smaller to larger
> place sequence (i.e. Decatur, Macon, IL as City, County and State). I
some
> cases I have added a township name between the city and county or have
> entered only the township name (followed by the abbreviation of Twp.) or
if
> the city is not known but township is, by omitting the city. All have
comma
> separations, so if any of the info is not known, there is a blank comma in
> that spot. There are exceptions for some burials. All of my recent ones
> are listed as Xyz Cemetery, City, County, State, but some of my older ones
> are entered as City, County, State, Xyz Cemetery or Cem period.
>
> I am concerned about using a global find and replace approach. I'm
> wondering first if it is case sensitive. And will it replace place names
> that start with the same two letters with the state name. As an example,
I
> have a place entered as Illiopolis, Macon, IL. Will that come out as
> Illinois, Macon, Illinois if I try to use a global replacement of comma IL
> to comma Illinois? Or what will happen to a cemetery entry when the
> cemetery name is at the end of the entry?
>
> Obviously, with the size of my database, it is an unsurmountable task to
> review each entry after a conversion to make sure it came out the way I
> wanted it to.
> Dick Cazier
> Lakewood, CO
> To: <>
> Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2003 10:19 AM
> Subject: RE: [PAF-5] State Abbreviations and USA
>
>
> > And Greetings to you Richard R;
> >
> > Your point is valid and well stated. Abbreviations are dangerous
things.
> >
> > In partial support of your stated case you may remember the time,
perhaps
> > forty years ago, when we were encourage to abbreviate place names. The
> rule
> > was to delete all vowels and truncate the name if it exceeded a
specified
> > number of letters (about fourteen letters, I think). I suspect that
this
> > was done to accommodate the limited length of the fields in the IBM
cards
> > that were used at that time to record information. As a result the
> section
> > of the IGI labeled World Miscellaneous is cluttered with those entries
> > because the computer cannot decipher those abbreviations. Further, I
have
> > heard that a team is working on expanding those abbreviations and moving
> > those entries to the correct categories.
> >
> > In addition I have heard the suggestion that "shire" should be added to
> all
> > of the county names in England. While I do not support the use of any
of
> > those county names abbreviated (e.g., Notts [or whatever the current
> > abbreviation is] for Nottinghamshire). Neither do I automatically add
> > "shire" to all of the county names because not all counties in England
are
> > Shire counties. For example in Northern England York is a shire county
> > (Yorkshire) Durham (which is always written as "County Durham" is not.
> >
> > Personally I spent more than thirty years puzzling over the occupation
of
> > one of my great grandfathers. His occupation was shown as "FWK", I
found
> > this in censuses and other documents. It must have been widely
understood
> > at that time (the early to middle 1800s). It was not until I visited
the
> > Lace Museum in Nottingham, England that I discovered it meant FrameWork
> > Knitter, a worker in the lace industry. Lace was then produced on large
> > machines that were constructed on cast iron frames.
> >
> > Abbreviations can be deliberately misused. The most egregious misuse of
> an
> > abbreviation that I can remember occurred prior to WWII. At that time
> Japan
> > was well known for producing shoddy goods. Products coming into the
> United
> > States were required to be labeled with the place of origin. The
Japanese
> > renamed an island Usa. They then transshipped products through that
place
> > and labeled them "MADE IN USA" to deliberately obscure the origin.
> >
> > Another problem with place names that occasionally confuses the Family
> > History Department computers is using Europe or a similar continental
> > appellation following place names in a continent (e.g., Paris, France,
> > Europe) (and, yes, I do know that Paris sprawls over about seven
> counties).
> >
> > In spite of the potential problems, I will continue to append USA to the
> > place names of all localities in the United States of America. I will
do
> > this for several reasons. A major problem with using "United States of
> > America" is its length. Even though PAF will accommodate a name of that
> > length this forces it to truncate or abbreviate other parts of the place
> > name when they are displayed. It will make the pattern of the place
names
> > consistent (i.e., the entry following the last comma will be a national
> > name). I was unaware, and it is true that I should have realized, that
> the
> > abbreviation for the Union of South Africa is U. S. A. I have two
friends
> > who lived there and my recollection is that they used "South Africa"
> rather
> > than the formal "Union of South Africa". Even so in my limited
traveling
> > (some in the Far East, Middle East, North Africa, Europe and North
> America)
> > I have not found any English speaking person (my knowledge of other
> > languages is limited to a smattering of Spanish) who failed to recognize
> USA
> > and being the United States of America. Actually, I wish that we had
> > adopted the suggested name Columbia while it was still available.
Further
> I
> > am uncomfortable calling myself an American meaning a citizen of the US
> when
> > everyone born in North or South America is an American.
> >
> > Richard Halliday
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Richard Rands [mailto:]
> > Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 12:50 PM
> > To: Richard L. Halliday
> > Subject: Re: [PAF-5] State Abbreviations and USA
> >
> >
> > Hi Richard,
> > > When I am teaching beginner classes I tell the students to never
use
> > >place name abbreviations. I then ask them "What does the abbreviation
> 'AL'
> > >stand for; Alaska, Alabama or Alberta, Canada?". Another treacherous
one
> > is
> > >'Aust.' Is it Austria or Australia? Next I tell them to always follow
> > >state names with USA.
> >
> > I wasn't going to raise an issue, but in the end couldn't hold back. I
> > whole heartily endorse your instructions to never use place name
> > abbreviations. So much so that I gulped when you advocate the use of
the
> > abbreviation USA following state names. I have already encountered
> > confusion with USA between US of America and Union of South Africa. I
> have
> > already seen that there is a United States of Africa on the drawing
board
> > that was a topic of discussion during Bush's recent visit to Aftrica.
> >
> > In my mind, using the abbreviation USA does not improve the place name
> > designation any more than it adds to potential confusion, as long as the
> > remaining place names are not abbreviated either. The only exception I
am
> > aware of so far is Georgia.
> >
> > I served a mission for the Church many years ago in Brazil. When we
sent
> > mail home to the USA, we were instructed to append the address with the
> > abbreviation EEUU. I was told that it was the Brazilian abbreviation
for
> > USA. Once I learned enough of the language to wonder what EEUU stood
for,
> > it didn't make sense because the translation for USA is Estados Unidos
> > d'America. I would have thought that the correct abbreviation should be
> > EUA. I discovered that a letter with the abbreviation EUA would be sent
> to
> > the United Emirates of Arabia. But why the double E and the double U?
> >
> > The explanation was not logical. Since the actual name for Brazil is
the
> > United States of Brazil, they refused to use the single letters EU for
the
> > US. So their postal service specified that EEUU would be for the USA.
I
> > have traveled extensively around the world, and have yet to encounter
> > someone who did not immediately understand "the United States" as being
> > the USA. Even in foreign countries, a reference in the local language
to
> > "the United States" is still automatically assumed to mean the
> > USA. (Estados Unidos, Etas Unis, etc.) But the abbreviation EU is now
> > widely used to mean the European Union. So you can understand why I am
> > reluctant to advocate the use of USA in place names.
> >
> > The problem is tricky. I still believe that adding USA to a place name
> > that contains a state name is not going to contribute anything, and will
> > potentially cause confusion. Only when it stands alone, should it be
> used,
> > and then I recommend spelling it out.
> >
> > Just my opinion
> >
> > Richard Rands
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ==== PAF-5-USERS Mailing List ====
> > FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service
> > http://www.familysearch.org/
> >
>
>
>
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