I guess it's something we all need to work on. SInce this started out as a US group more than 10 years ago now, a lot of us became used to the state abbreviation being sufficient.
Now in my case, I think BIg Spring, Texas is pretty unambiguous, since international media and western movies have assured that just about anyone in the world literate enough to be on an internet group knows that Texas is somewhere in the western part of the United States, and in fact West Texas, where I live, pretty much conforms to the popular image of catus, tumbleweed, rattlesnakes and roadrunners. We even have real cowboys, although the "wild Indians" of the western movies are not so wild, nor very plentiful, these days.
I think certain cities and regions around the world are known worldwide. New York and California, as well as Texas in the US, Lombardy, Tuscany and Sicily in Italy, Bavaria and Prussia in Germany, Normandy, Brittany and Alsace in France. Most everyone worldwide knows Scotland, England and Wales are regions of the United Kingdom and Nottingham was made famous worldwide by Robin Hood, long before Raleigh made bikes there.
But other towns and regions are only known locally, so it is probably best to fully qualify the location, even if parts of it maybe be obvious.
So, even though Texans like to think of Texas as a soverign nation, which in fact it was for about a dozen years, I'll sign off:
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, Texas, USA
G L Romeu <romeug@comcast.net> wrote: Hi Peter, I am going to step in here as i sensed Dale's frustration and believe that the last thing he was looking for is a sarcastic response. I had been in the position of having to discipline people i really like and respect, it is necessary at times, but really unpleasant and difficult. I have always admired Dale's great finesse in dealing with issues on this list... Anyways, my personal issue with this (I will not speak for Dale) has been all the people that think that an abbreviated 'province/state' will pretty much encompass the location without the expression of the country location- in my case, signing off chesterfield nj instead of chesterfield nj usa as if EVERYONE in the world would know that nj was in the western hemisphere, specifically the USA.
I must say however, with my really limited geographical knowledge, I really enjoyed your extended address and it sent me immediately to mapping software to see where that is. I have a world map in my workshop to reference anything i find interesting on the radio that i may not know it's location...
best regards, gabriel romeu in chesterfield new jersey usa
Peter Tutty wrote:
> Dale,
>
> I regret to inform you that you fail to abide by your own newly set rules by using 'USA' instead of 'United States of America' in your own signoff.
>
> Peter Tutty
>
> Londonderry district
> Post Code 2753
> City of Penrith
> County of Cumberland
> State of New South Wales
> Commonwealth of Australia
> Oceania region
> Planet Earth.
>
> Who would much rather sign off with
>
> Londonderry, NSW, Australia
>
> - even Australia Post, the Royal Mail and USPS find this acceptable.
--
G L Romeu
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