Posted on 10/17/2018 7:32:38 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
DES PLAINES, Ill. (WLS) -- A Maine East High School student was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after he posted on social media holding a gun...
A black air-soft replica weapon, which was confirmed to be the weapon shown in the Snapchat posting
(Excerpt) Read more at abc7chicago.com ...
“Non-mandatory five-digit ZIP Codes were introduced nationwide on July 1, 1963”
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I’m thinking more of when the two-letter state abbreviations became pretty much standard. That coulda been 1963, but I think it was later on. I’m too lazy too google it up, lol.
“On the other hand, “Ill.” describes Illinois very well, MUCH better than IL.”
Like I saaid, I liked the old 3 letter usage - people didn’t get confused if AK was for Alaska or Arkansas!
But now that I think on it, the 50s Chuck Berry song “Sweet Little Sixteen” used the 2 letter abbreviation for Penn - “They’re really rockin’ in Boston and Philadelphia PA”.
Didn’t PA exist long before zip codes? I know Penn and Penna were common, but I vaguely recall PA, too. It’s probably bad memory.
Pa. did in fact exist, but when the two letter codes came in, it became PA
The two letter codes were standardized at the same time ZIP was introduced. From USPS:
Until 1963 the Post Office Department preferred that state and territorial names be written out in full to avoid confusion, but accepted the popular public practice of abbreviation.
The Department published a list of preferred abbreviations in the 1831 Table of Post Offices in the United States. The United States Official Postal Guide, first published in 1874, also provided lists of preferred spellings. Most of the abbreviations in use in 1874 were still in use in 1943, although new states and territories had been added, and the abbreviation for California had been lengthened, from “Cal.” to “Calif.”
On July 1, 1963, the Post Office Department implemented the five-digit ZIP Code, which was placed after the state name in the last line of an address. To provide room for the ZIP Code, the Department issued two-letter abbreviations for all states and territories. Publication 59, Abbreviations for Use with ZIP Code, issued by the Department in October 1963, told why. Two-letter abbreviations were:
. . . provided by the Post Office Department as an aid to mailers in accommodating ZIP Codes within the usual City-State line of addresses. The abbreviations are based on a maximum 23-position line, because this has been found to be the most universally acceptable line capacity basis for major addressing systems. A breakdown of the City-State-ZIP Code line positions is as follows: 13 positions for city, 1 space between city and State designation, 2 positions for State designation, 2 spaces between State designation and ZIP Code, and 5 positions for ZIP Code.
To date, only one change has been made to the abbreviations issued in 1963. In November 1969, at the request of the Canadian postal administration, the two-letter abbreviation for Nebraska, originally NB, was changed to NE, to avoid confusion with New Brunswick in Canada.
Thanks. I just looked it up. The official USPS abbreviations through the years were:
1831 - Pa.
1871 - Pa.
1943 - Pa.
1963 - PA
“Didn’t PA exist long before zip codes?”
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Yup, as I wrote, “PA” was even used in a 1950s Chuck Berry song’s lyric.
I think a mix of forms were used in the 60s, that’s how I remember it. For example, this P.O. ad encouraging the use of zip code has an example where the zipcode is on the “letter”, but Illinois is spelled out in full -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf71PHyOfR0&feature=youtu.be&t=46
The writer isn’t addressing a letter here. The use of “Ill.” is suggested by a style manual.
“And if you think that information somehow “disappears” or “is destroyed” after graduation these days...you are dreaming.”
Mine was. But then I graduated in 1978. I had a prospective employer ask me for my HS diploma. So I contacted my school. They laughed at me.
“We destroyed those in 1998.”
I got the job anyway.
L
You don't know the half of it. I live in this sorry-ass state. We call it Illannoyed. A far more accurate description.
NOT a crime. Their goal is to criminalize the thought of a gun.
The day after the Orlando nightclub shooting, my kids and a couple friends were showing off their airsoft guns in the back yard. Some neighborhood ninny called the police. Three of our towns finest walked in the backyard. I happened to be in the yard too and walked over.
Here’s the extent of the conversation:
Police: “Toys?”
me: Yep
Police: OK, have a nice day.
I didn’t really have a problem with it.
“The writer isn’t addressing a letter here. The use of “Ill.” is suggested by a style manual.”
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I hate style manuals - that’s where we get such nonsense as “undocumented migrants” instead of the common sense, correct term, “illegal aliens”.
As for as the USPS usage nothing is mandatory, I believe. It’s more like - if you want your mail to go faster, use the prescribed method abbreviation and zip code.
I’m a bit old school; I like the fully written out state name, along with zip code usage.
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