…do you say the name of your state (or province or whatever) or give the abbreviation?
For purposes of comparison, give the name of your state or province.
I live in Pennsylvania and say “P-A.”
No?! I just say Mitchigunn.
The way I say it is the state name and then the abbreviation for clarification. “Arizona: A -Z”. I’ve learned through experience you have to be educational if nothing else.
I also say “zero”, not “oh”.
Saying “OH” is kind of stupid. I just say “Ohio.”
I’d just say “Ohio”. For my previous address, “New South Wales”, since “NSW” takes longer to say, unless you say it “En ess dub”, which is too colloquial.
I say Massachusetts. If they’re entering my address in a system the zip code is the thing they really need anyway. And individual letters are difficult to distinguish over the phone.
In Spain if I used the abreviation for the province I’d just get “uh?”; we use the whole name. Abbreviations used to be part of license plates but not any more, you may see them in business databases but that’s about the only place.
My experience since coming back from Scotland last spring has been that any customer service systems ask you to choose your province in the first place to direct you to the proper team, so it isn’t even necessary for those calls any more.
When I skip from “Philadelphia” to my zip code – 'cause the zip is all they need, plus, really, it’s not like there’s a huge number of Philadelphias out there – they will usually say “what state?”
When I lived in Los Angeles, I just said “Los Angeles,” and then the zip code. In Minnesota, I say “M-N” because a good 30% of the time, people ask me what the state’s abbreviation is. For my next stop, Chicago, I’ll probably go back to just saying the city, followed by the zip.
I just say Virginia. I think “VA” could me misheard as “PA” or “CA” pretty easily so I think the name is clearer.
I can never remember the abbreviations for the “M” states like Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, and Montana. So if someone is giving me an address for one of those states I’d have to ask for the abbreviation or look it up later to be sure.
I have to say the name of the state, otherwise the conversation goes like this half the time:
“1234 Anywhere Drive, Portland OR”
“…or what?”
I say the province. I dictate addresses in my neck of the woods like (not a real address but I would dictate my own in a similar style)
One one two three zero eighty fifth avenue Edmonton Alberta T six C as in Charles two N as in Norman three. (I’ll say “T as in tiger” if I am talking to someone for whom the T would not be self-evident).
No, and I think it is confusing to use the abbreviation. People aren’t expecting that, IMHO, and therefore will be thrown off by it. For some reason, Pennsylvania is the only state that I can even remotely imagine doing this with. Was there once an advertising campaign or something with PA?
I say the province in full: Alberta. Mind, what really matters is the postal code; all Alberta postal codes start with “T,” so as long as that’s in place, mail will be routed to Alberta anyway.
“el-ey, California…”
“New York” Easier to say than “N Y.”
I say Maine. Half the time, people have to ask me what the abbreviation is. That said, if I lived in PA, I’d probably say P.A. Not sure why, it just sounds right. When I lived in Virginia, I said V.A. but when I lived in Indiana, I did not say I.N.
Yep, I’m odd.
Montreal, Quebec. Unless I’m talking to someone where it’s evident that I’m in Montreal, in which case I just move on to the postal code.
[aside]Even though there are two phone area codes on the island now, it’s generally assumed to be 514 unless someone says otherwise, so in theory, I could just say my phone number as 7 digits. However, the first three numbers of my phone number differ from the area code by only one, and if I start with that, people look at me like I’m nuts and correct me with a “You mean 514?” It’s rather annoying. [/aside]
Wait, in other countries the customer service reps actually already have the information you gave the phone tree? And you don’t have to repeat it?
I say “Arkansas”.
“AR” can get stuff sent to Arizona. 