Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Wis.



Where the hell are people getting "Wisc."?

10 comments:

Robyn said...

The Chicago Manual used this abbreviation as recently as the 14th edition. Not sure if their more recent guides do.

Bill said...

Oops. Thanks for that, Robyn. My newspaper bias is showing again.

John Althouse Cohen said...

I'm from Wisconsin. I know about this technicality. But I can't bring myself to follow it. "Wis." just doesn't sound right. It should be "Wisc." Isn't it possible that your style guide just didn't make the best choice?

rhickok1109 said...

I'm also from Wisconsin, originally, and "Wisc." has never seemed right to me. In grade school, right after WWII, we learned "Wis." as the proper abbreviation for our state.

madchickenlittle said...

What happens when two states have the same first 3 letters? Like Alaska and Alabama?

Eileen said...

Alaska = AK
Alabama = AL

And I'm nowhere near Wisconsin, but I thought it was Wisc., too, until I looked it up. And it's good that I know that because it's one of the more frequent abbreviation mistakes I see -- right behind Penn., instead of Pa.

madchickenlittle said...

Yeah, I get the two letter postal abbreviation. Which would make Wisconsin WI not Wis. Maybe this is too esoteric for me.

Eileen said...

Re: WI vs. Wis.

The two-letter postal abbreviation is only used with full addresses including ZIP code.

John Cherry said...

The postal code is a code, not an abbreviation. It should not have a period and should be used only in mailing addresses. I still use the old-fashioned abbreviations in mailing addresses. The post office doesn't seem to care.

Tahoe Editor said...

UPI's 2 cents on Alaska & Alabama:

Alabama | Abbreviation: Ala.

Alaska | Do not abbreviate. See state(s).

Rule of thumb: Spell out Alaska and Hawaii and each of the 48 contiguous states with five or fewer letters. The list:

Ala.; Alaska; Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., Fla., Ga., Hawaii, Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kan., Ky., La., Md., Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont., Neb., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.M., N.Y., N.C., N.D., Ohio, Okla., Ore., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.D., Tenn., Texas, Utah, Va., Vt., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.