# New York - City or Not. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 1999, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-or-not/4973 "1999-11-17T01:17:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-or-not/4973/41 "1999-11-22T05:28:00Z")
Arnold: you could always put me down in your book as an American who knows what CH means–I had to learn most of the European two letter codes back in the Army. That’s also the country identifier used for Switzerland in URLs. Many folks, still, think it’s for Czechoslovakia, which actually uses the abbreviation of CZ. CZ, it might be noted, is used for two countries now. A really fun, but extinct, abbreviation we members of US Army Europe had to learn was SMLM. That was for the Soviet Military Liaison Mission (pronounced "Smell 'em). ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-or-not/4973/42 "1999-11-23T06:46:00Z")
Good for you, Monty! If ever you’re on jeopardy and “country abbreviations” is a category, you’re in good shape. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-or-not/4973/43 "1999-11-23T06:59:00Z")
I also knew that CH on a license plate stands for Confederatio Helvetica (missing -n is not a typo; it’s in Latin, to avoid favoring one of 3.5 national languages). As for Monty, I defy anybody on this board to name another person they’ve ever met, who would make a typo in Romanized Korean and then catch it him/herself. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-or-not/4973/44 "1999-11-23T03:03:00Z")
Didn’t they change the name from Richmond County to Saten Island County?? ---
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-or-not/4973/45 "1999-11-23T04:49:00Z")
a Bellaire, TX, mailing address while denizens of West University, Piney Point, and several other small, completely-surrounded-by-Houston, municipalities with their own mayor, city council, cops, fire dep’t., I.S.D. A good example, but I must complicate it. Bellaire, West University, and Southside Place are all part of Houston I.S.D. In fact, there are several I.S.D.'s that have borders that include Houston. Aldine, Spring Branch, North Forest, Fort Bend, Pasadena, Alief. School districts seem to have their own taxing borders and agenda. I am curious if NY,NY has the same ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-or-not/4973/46 "1999-11-23T08:03:00Z")
**Polycarp** , congratulations to you also. There was however a typo. 🙂 It’s Confoederatio Helvetica, as you can see at [this"][http://www.admin.ch/ch/index.en.html](http://www.admin.ch/ch/index.en.html)]this]( [url="[http://www.admin.ch/ch/index.en.html](http://www.admin.ch/ch/index.en.html)) page. You will also notice that in the upper right corner, the page has the 4 (four) national languages listed, not 3.5 (??!?) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 1999, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-or-not/4973/47 "1999-11-24T06:44:00Z")
:::resolving never to make another post on Switzerland::: Confœderatio Helvetica it is, Arnold. I used 3.5 to refer to the three official languages: Schweitzerdeutsch (please correct my spelling!), Français Suisse, and Italiano Suissero; and the other national language, usually referred to as Romansh and spoken in the Canton of the Grey League. (Doesn’t that sound like the title of a 19th Century romance?) BTW, the English version only lists German, French, and Italian; the poor Rhaetians get left out, as usual. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-or-not/4973/48 "1999-11-23T20:44:00Z")
> [@](#): > > BTW, the English version only lists German, French, and Italian; the poor Rhaetians get left out, as usual. If you are talking about the English version of the [web page](http://www.admin.ch/ch/index.en.html) I mentioned above, it’s true that they only mention the official languages, not the national languages. But take a peek in the upper right hand corner! You can view the same site in the **four** national languages: italiano, rumantsch, deutsch, français. * * * La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit. H. de Livry ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-or-not/4973/49 "1999-11-23T20:49:00Z")
P.S. and by the way, when swiss people mention their languages, they don’t bother qualifying them. They’ll just say french, german, italian and romanche. However, the spoken german in switzerland is very different than what’s spoken in germany, and is usually called schweitzerdeutsch (pronounced schwyzerdütsch). ---
**Author:** ![dlv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dlv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dlv)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 1999, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-or-not/4973/50 "1999-11-25T01:38:00Z")
**It really doesn’t matter if you get the city name right on the letter’s address; all you need, really, is to have the house number and street correct PLUS the correct ZIP (Zone Improvement Plan) code…** Problem is, when Mahattan and other boroughs merged into NYC in 1899, there were no ZIP codes. “_k m_th Street, New York City, NY” is ambiguous if _m_th Street is found in Manhattan and Brooklyn and several former townships in Queens. (And no, Richmond County is still called that. It costs $7 to get in.) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 1999, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-or-not/4973/51 "1999-11-25T02:37:00Z")
But, gee, dlv; it’s obvious to the rest of us (you know, the residents of planet Earth) that I was referring to the era in which we currently find ourselves–that era in which the use of the postal ZIP is pretty well standard in the United States. But, hey, maybe you’re living your life like the Merlin of legend (regressing through history). ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 1999, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-or-not/4973/52 "1999-11-28T16:40:00Z")
And those of us with memories know that New York and other large cities had partial ZIP codes (that’s why the “I” is for “Improvement”) long before ZIP was introduced in the 60’s. Old addresses were, for example: 630 Fifth Avenue New York 20, N. Y. Today, that would be 630 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10020 (The two-letter state codes were introduced at the same time as ZIP.) * * * John W. Kennedy “Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.” – Charles Williams ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 1999, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-or-not/4973/53 "1999-11-29T06:48:00Z")
And those of us with a facility in reading the English language can tell that, by my use of the term ZIP, I was obviously referring to the time AFTER the ZIP codes were introduced. But, apparently, some folks are just blind to another term in English composition: that of “logical sequence.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-or-not/4973.md?page=2)