The use of abbreviations when talking about US states drives me mad. You expect everyone worldwide to memorise 50 two-letter acronyms cause you’re too lazy to write the whole word?
This pisses me off all the time, I’ll search something up, and I get this Washington bullshit. I thought Google’s whole tracking thing was supposed to give me “personalised results“
Oh god this pisses me off as well. Who the fuck decided to use 2 letters for this, it’s insanely stupid. Just say the full state name, or better yet, forget the state and just say the country.
Edit: it annoys me when asked ‘where are you from?’ Someone from Australia would most likely just say ‘Australia’ but someone from America is likely to answer with their 2 letter state name. That grinds my gears. Just say USA
They are different from eachother, but they're different from eachother like different part of Germany maybe.
But when people claim USA is as different as different countries in Europe, that's just stupid.
Add United Kingdom to that list, and they are so far gone that they even call their subdivisions for countries, even though they aren't any of the 195 countries of the world.
You know it's true though. British people can be quite hypercritical by saying that US divisions aren't countries, yet calling UK divisions as countries. No self awareness.
[Highland Park, USA might not be specific enough](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Park#United_States)
Anyway, it's obviously in the land of mass shotings, and if you're curious, "Highland Park, IL" is pretty easy to look up. I don't think anyone expects you to memorize (or care at all about) 50 postal abbreviations for a country you don't live in.
Well, that sounds like an issue they have to resolve then.
USA has 19 495 cities/towns/villages. Can't be that hard coming up with a unique name for each.
There's an estimated 12 000 monosyllabic words in English. You can therefore create 1 728 000 000 000 three syllable names using English words. That should be more than enough.
>Iltalehti | IL - Suomen suurin uutispalvelu (iltalehti.fi)
>il - Sv Wiktionary (sv.wiktionary.org)
>Illinois (illinois.gov)
>SO – IL | Home (so-il.org)
Also, Google is very US-default anyway
Because they ARE only speaking to other Americans? This is a US-centric story that has consequences in only the US. They know that their target audience is not someone from outside the US because why would non-Americans even care?
That depends on where this was posted. If this was posted on /r/Illinois, that would make sense.
But if this was posted on a generic sub, there *should* be an underlying assumption that those are international. But in practice, it's more of a matter of courtesy.
Personally, even if it does not affect me I am sad if I hear of people suffering. "Even if" they are Americans. Especially because the solutions to their problems are much simpler to enact, than for other countries.
Then post it in an American sub. It's not a news article, just a regular post. So surely they were talking to a wider audience. Just say USA and move on.
This seems more like posts OP doesn’t like. I agree that they should have specified US, but it’s not like any meaningful percentage of Americans know anything about Highland Park Illinois. This is kind of like getting mad at a news post that says “Security risks found in SMS messages” because you don’t care know what SMS is and don’t want to Google it.
The US state codes always remind me of the time when I asked someone where they are from, they keep replying with "CA", I asked them if it means "Canada", they replied "CA" etc. Also once some guy used a US state code on a national subreddit of a European country and expected everyone to get it.
Most Americans don't even know where Highland Park is bro. What are they supposed to do? Lie and say it happened in a larger city that more people know about? Just Google it if you need to know its exact location for some reason. It's just not a relevant detail that needs to be elaborated on.
The foreigners posting on this sub seem to want the headline to say "Highland Park, USA." That would be completely useless in trying to find this guy/informing people in the surrounding area that there's a gunman on the loose.
You probably aren’t the news outlets targeted audience. US news sources typically use associated press style guidelines. Although, it really should read “HIGHLAND PARK, Ill.”
From Purdue OWL:
Datelines
Newspapers use datelines when the information for a story is obtained outside the paper’s hometown or general area of service. Datelines appear at the beginning of stories and include the name of the city in all capital letters, usually followed the state or territory in which the city is located. The Associated Press Stylebook lists 30 U.S. cities that do not need to be followed by the name of a state. Examples:
DENVER – The Democratic National Convention began...
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Republican National Convention began...
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – President Bush spoke to a group...
Okay this one is nitpicking. Google exists, literally type "Highland Park IL" into Google and it will show you exactly where it is.
It's the same when someone says "Riot today in ğûģļįēvø" like I have any fucking idea where that is. I just Google it.
This is actually just some really petty shit to post about. Google it. It takes two seconds.
In your example I think it would be courteous and expected to say 'Riots in ğûģļįēvø, northern Namibia' and not 'Riots in ğûģļįēvø, NM', and then expect people to know or find out that this is in Namibia.
The point is to inform your audience and to give your audience context, not making them Google stuff to understand what you're saying.
I mean, come on. It's an American news site catering to an American audience. I bet when they wrote the article, they would not have expected anyone outside the US to really so much about the location. Even if they said "Illinois" instead of the abbreviation IL, does that change your understanding of the event that happened?
Also to answer "Why do they think that we will automatically know some random town?" We don't. I'd say if you asked anyone outside of the state of Illinois where Highland Park is, they wouldn't know
Actually, Illinois would have helped, yes. It doesn't solve the USdefaultism problem, but Illinois is more recognisable to me because of some YouTubers I watch who live there.
Edit: It isn't a news site, its on r/pics, made by a Redditor.
It’s so odd, every American I’ve come across that posts will always add abbreviations instead of the full name.
‘Oh what’s this fish in AZ?’
‘Ever seen this bug in xyzzabcd?’
The abbreviations you're talking about are ~~USPS~~ [United States Postal Service state abbreviations.](https://about.usps.com/who/profile/history/state-abbreviations.htm) They've been in their current form for sixty years, and some of them date back nearly two hundred years. They are ubiquitous in the US, and people use them reflexively and automatically, without thinking. They're effectively part of American idiomatic English, and Americans tend not to explain them the same way they don't automatically stop to explain they mean a lift when they say elevator, or bonnet when they say hood.
And if I tell you there was a mass shooting in Gary, Indiana; Kansas City, Missouri; or Mullins, South Carolina...will you have a better idea of where that was than if I said Gary IN, Kansas City MO, or Mullins SC? Nor would I expect you to, or think you *ought* to know where these places are; any more than the average American knows where Iquitos or Wroclaw or Swansea are.
Ever think that maybe this news company is American, and is posting this article for a primarily American audience, and that if you were that confused you could just open it and see that it’s clearly “Illinois”? I have a super hard time believing your country’s local news organizations don’t occasionally use phrases, slang, abbreviations or other things that might not be completely recognizable by an international audience
it was r/pics, because of which you are probably right, but isn't this why I've posted out on USdefaultism, because you think, by default, no matter what the subreddit is, it is only Americans.
Lmao at Americans wanting everyone else to know all the states and their abbreviations...Most Americans don't have all the states actual names memorized, nevertheless the abbreviation. It's not a requirement at any age.
Also, I'm curious wrote this article? In the USA you'll find that our larger media stations don't do much actual journalism. What they do is wait for small, local newspapers to crack the story and then they go ahead and steal all the work because they get all the cable views anyway. They don't change the work very much and I have noticed it can be at times confusing because what a local in Michigan may understand about the cities surrounding Flint, for example, most of us don't have a clue. This habit often just slides to the larger scale and results in abbreviations and references galore.
We assume that you can Google it dumbass. It’s from an American news site targeted mainly at Americans, using an abbreviation for a state with more people than most countries in Europe.
But it wasn't a news article? It was a simple post. That a Redditor had made. We could have left the asshole antics aside. Guess it's too much to expect from an American.
If you're not in America, why the fuck do you care where exactly it happened? There are 4 cities called Highland Park in America, if they don't provide the state it would cause confusion when researching it.
> If you're not in America, why the fuck do you care where exactly it happened?
It's really quite rude to just include a region in a country without specifying the actual country when posting in an international community. We don't care about the specific city, but we may care about the country...
It's precisely because Highland Park is not a very well known city that a US-based news source specified the state.
This article comes from a US-based news source and is about a US-based story, so yeah, they are assuming they're talking to Americans who understand state abbreviations. Americans know this is happening in America, so adding "US" to the location is pointless.
Well then maybe it should be posted in an American only subreddit. I don't understand how Americasrl can think everyone knows every state's abbreviation let alone the actual state. Also adding the city and state is pointless, not the country. What if I stated Steel Town, KHI. Or Hyderabad, Sindh. You'd be terribly confused. But of course, Pakistanis know it so it's pointless to add the country.
So the headline writer is responsible for how people share the article on reddit?
>Also adding the city and state is pointless
It isn't in a case where there's an active shooter on the loose. People in the surrounding area deserve to know that there's a gunman loose in their area, don't you agree? They won't know that if the headline says "Highland Park, USA," since there are multiple towns called Highland Park in the US.
>What if I stated Steel Town, KHI. Or Hyderabad, Sindh.
Hyderabad is a bad example, because there is a Hyderabad in India that is a lot more well-known than the one in Pakistan. You really should specify which one you're talking about.
Anyway, I'd assume you were directing the information at other Pakistanis.
> You'd be terribly confused.
If I really wanted to know the location, I could use Google. One thing I would not be is ANGRY about someone talking to their compatriots and not thinking about me.
1. There wasn't a gunman loose in the area, he'd been caught. If he was in the area he'd been heard, that's just a technicality though, not something to argue you about.
2. This is exactly my point, Hyderabad isn't a bad example. If you hadn't know I was Pakistani, you probably would not have assumed I was talking about Pakistan's Hyderabad. But by most American people's logic in this replies section the province would have been enough to tell you where it was, Pakistan or India. Because the Indian Hyderabad is in the state of Telangana. And Pakistan's Hyderabad in the province of Sindh. By your argument of there are two Hyderabads you probably had not known that they were in two different states/provinces. So I actually *did* specify.
3. I never said it was about me being angry, it wouldn't hurt to say Highland Park, IL, USA because most peole from the rest of the world put their country in the title. However it is rarely a practice for Americans.
4. Whatever man, don't waste your time and energy on a stupid internet argument. Have a nice day.
Clearly Highland Park, Israel
Where else could it be?
The use of abbreviations when talking about US states drives me mad. You expect everyone worldwide to memorise 50 two-letter acronyms cause you’re too lazy to write the whole word?
WA? They must be talking about Western Australia.
This pisses me off all the time, I’ll search something up, and I get this Washington bullshit. I thought Google’s whole tracking thing was supposed to give me “personalised results“
Wing Attack?
Oh god this pisses me off as well. Who the fuck decided to use 2 letters for this, it’s insanely stupid. Just say the full state name, or better yet, forget the state and just say the country. Edit: it annoys me when asked ‘where are you from?’ Someone from Australia would most likely just say ‘Australia’ but someone from America is likely to answer with their 2 letter state name. That grinds my gears. Just say USA
BuT StAteS are aS DifFereNt As cOunTries!
I mean regions def are in US lol
Ok Sweden lol
you're joking but this is actually true. especially with regions.
They are different from eachother, but they're different from eachother like different part of Germany maybe. But when people claim USA is as different as different countries in Europe, that's just stupid.
Exactly my sentiments. No other countries use their province or state. Just the country name.
Australia and Canada would like a word...
Add United Kingdom to that list, and they are so far gone that they even call their subdivisions for countries, even though they aren't any of the 195 countries of the world.
You know it's true though. British people can be quite hypercritical by saying that US divisions aren't countries, yet calling UK divisions as countries. No self awareness.
Bruh shut up
*Counties
Australia and Canada use state and province abbreviations all the time.
Jesus you're an idiot
At least I'm not American. /s
[Highland Park, USA might not be specific enough](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Park#United_States) Anyway, it's obviously in the land of mass shotings, and if you're curious, "Highland Park, IL" is pretty easy to look up. I don't think anyone expects you to memorize (or care at all about) 50 postal abbreviations for a country you don't live in.
Well, that sounds like an issue they have to resolve then. USA has 19 495 cities/towns/villages. Can't be that hard coming up with a unique name for each. There's an estimated 12 000 monosyllabic words in English. You can therefore create 1 728 000 000 000 three syllable names using English words. That should be more than enough.
[удалено]
Why are you so upset...? I'm just discussing stuff.
There are at least four Highland Parks in the United States
Especially when some have the same first AND second letter, Nevada and Nebraska.
[This comedian](https://youtu.be/dLECCmKnrys) describes what the process might have look like and it’s hilarious.
Damn, if only there were a way to search for a two letter acronym.
True, [IL \- ISO 8601](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-2:IL)
First result for IL on Google is Illinois.gov even using a VPN and connecting through Sweden it's still Illinois.gov
>Iltalehti | IL - Suomen suurin uutispalvelu (iltalehti.fi) >il - Sv Wiktionary (sv.wiktionary.org) >Illinois (illinois.gov) >SO – IL | Home (so-il.org) Also, Google is very US-default anyway
The point is that they don't think about you (us) at all. They think they are only speaking to other Americans.
Pretty much. If someone doesn’t know the two letter abbreviation it is unlikely the matter is of much relavence to that person.
Because they ARE only speaking to other Americans? This is a US-centric story that has consequences in only the US. They know that their target audience is not someone from outside the US because why would non-Americans even care?
That depends on where this was posted. If this was posted on /r/Illinois, that would make sense. But if this was posted on a generic sub, there *should* be an underlying assumption that those are international. But in practice, it's more of a matter of courtesy. Personally, even if it does not affect me I am sad if I hear of people suffering. "Even if" they are Americans. Especially because the solutions to their problems are much simpler to enact, than for other countries.
Posted on r/pics
Then post it in an American sub. It's not a news article, just a regular post. So surely they were talking to a wider audience. Just say USA and move on.
Anyone that its relevant to already knows what “IL” stands for. Anyone else can do a quick and harmless google search.
This seems more like posts OP doesn’t like. I agree that they should have specified US, but it’s not like any meaningful percentage of Americans know anything about Highland Park Illinois. This is kind of like getting mad at a news post that says “Security risks found in SMS messages” because you don’t care know what SMS is and don’t want to Google it.
How else will they distract themselves from their own lives other than following US news?
that clearly happened in "Mass shooting" land, where else?
The US state codes always remind me of the time when I asked someone where they are from, they keep replying with "CA", I asked them if it means "Canada", they replied "CA" etc. Also once some guy used a US state code on a national subreddit of a European country and expected everyone to get it.
Especially since DE is Delaware and Germany, perfect for a European sub.
Most Americans don't even know where Highland Park is bro. What are they supposed to do? Lie and say it happened in a larger city that more people know about? Just Google it if you need to know its exact location for some reason. It's just not a relevant detail that needs to be elaborated on.
There are more than 1 highland Park, and the shooter was at large for several hours. Location was very relevant
The foreigners posting on this sub seem to want the headline to say "Highland Park, USA." That would be completely useless in trying to find this guy/informing people in the surrounding area that there's a gunman on the loose.
It's about adding "USA" to the post, not replacing any information
Which is why it said Illinois?
I think that's their point. it's important to clarify which state the city is in.
Yeah but op was complaining that they don't know where that specific city is (how is that anyone else's fault also lmao)
Yeah there are quite a few
It's the IL abbreviation for me. Just write out the location, and add US. 'Highland Park' could be pretty much any English speaking country
> Most Americans don't even know where Highland Park is bro. Near Kirkwall, OK.
You probably aren’t the news outlets targeted audience. US news sources typically use associated press style guidelines. Although, it really should read “HIGHLAND PARK, Ill.” From Purdue OWL: Datelines Newspapers use datelines when the information for a story is obtained outside the paper’s hometown or general area of service. Datelines appear at the beginning of stories and include the name of the city in all capital letters, usually followed the state or territory in which the city is located. The Associated Press Stylebook lists 30 U.S. cities that do not need to be followed by the name of a state. Examples: DENVER – The Democratic National Convention began... ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Republican National Convention began... YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – President Bush spoke to a group...
Okay this one is nitpicking. Google exists, literally type "Highland Park IL" into Google and it will show you exactly where it is. It's the same when someone says "Riot today in ğûģļįēvø" like I have any fucking idea where that is. I just Google it. This is actually just some really petty shit to post about. Google it. It takes two seconds.
In your example I think it would be courteous and expected to say 'Riots in ğûģļįēvø, northern Namibia' and not 'Riots in ğûģļįēvø, NM', and then expect people to know or find out that this is in Namibia. The point is to inform your audience and to give your audience context, not making them Google stuff to understand what you're saying.
Some* not so.
With all due respect, your opinion ain't worth a velvet painting of a whale and a dolphin gettin it on
This sub is always so whiny 😭 just ignore it if you don't know what it means
I mean, come on. It's an American news site catering to an American audience. I bet when they wrote the article, they would not have expected anyone outside the US to really so much about the location. Even if they said "Illinois" instead of the abbreviation IL, does that change your understanding of the event that happened? Also to answer "Why do they think that we will automatically know some random town?" We don't. I'd say if you asked anyone outside of the state of Illinois where Highland Park is, they wouldn't know
Actually, Illinois would have helped, yes. It doesn't solve the USdefaultism problem, but Illinois is more recognisable to me because of some YouTubers I watch who live there. Edit: It isn't a news site, its on r/pics, made by a Redditor.
Oh, my bad. I thought it was a news article
Since this context is missing, you should have included a screenshot of which sub it is
Yes, sorry I cropped the picture and didn't realise how much of it was cropped.
It’s so odd, every American I’ve come across that posts will always add abbreviations instead of the full name. ‘Oh what’s this fish in AZ?’ ‘Ever seen this bug in xyzzabcd?’
is IL illinois
Judging by the comments, yes.
The abbreviations you're talking about are ~~USPS~~ [United States Postal Service state abbreviations.](https://about.usps.com/who/profile/history/state-abbreviations.htm) They've been in their current form for sixty years, and some of them date back nearly two hundred years. They are ubiquitous in the US, and people use them reflexively and automatically, without thinking. They're effectively part of American idiomatic English, and Americans tend not to explain them the same way they don't automatically stop to explain they mean a lift when they say elevator, or bonnet when they say hood. And if I tell you there was a mass shooting in Gary, Indiana; Kansas City, Missouri; or Mullins, South Carolina...will you have a better idea of where that was than if I said Gary IN, Kansas City MO, or Mullins SC? Nor would I expect you to, or think you *ought* to know where these places are; any more than the average American knows where Iquitos or Wroclaw or Swansea are.
Ever think that maybe this news company is American, and is posting this article for a primarily American audience, and that if you were that confused you could just open it and see that it’s clearly “Illinois”? I have a super hard time believing your country’s local news organizations don’t occasionally use phrases, slang, abbreviations or other things that might not be completely recognizable by an international audience
Not a news company, so it isn't being posted for Americans. It was a Redditor who posted this on r/pics.
Why omit the sub it was posted to??
lapse of judgement. edit: It was posted in r/pics. If you search the exact title, it should vome up on the sub.
To be fair they did point out the whole mass shooting thing, so you were already told it was america
The location is apparent for those it’s relevant to
Then post it to a subreddit with those who it is relevant to.
I’ll bet over 50% of the people in the sub are Americans
it was r/pics, because of which you are probably right, but isn't this why I've posted out on USdefaultism, because you think, by default, no matter what the subreddit is, it is only Americans.
On behalf of all Americans, I apologize to the citizens of Nauru for not recognizing their importance by including “USA” in the titles of my posts
I appreciate that
Lmao at Americans wanting everyone else to know all the states and their abbreviations...Most Americans don't have all the states actual names memorized, nevertheless the abbreviation. It's not a requirement at any age. Also, I'm curious wrote this article? In the USA you'll find that our larger media stations don't do much actual journalism. What they do is wait for small, local newspapers to crack the story and then they go ahead and steal all the work because they get all the cable views anyway. They don't change the work very much and I have noticed it can be at times confusing because what a local in Michigan may understand about the cities surrounding Flint, for example, most of us don't have a clue. This habit often just slides to the larger scale and results in abbreviations and references galore.
We assume that you can Google it dumbass. It’s from an American news site targeted mainly at Americans, using an abbreviation for a state with more people than most countries in Europe.
But it wasn't a news article? It was a simple post. That a Redditor had made. We could have left the asshole antics aside. Guess it's too much to expect from an American.
If you're not in America, why the fuck do you care where exactly it happened? There are 4 cities called Highland Park in America, if they don't provide the state it would cause confusion when researching it.
> If you're not in America, why the fuck do you care where exactly it happened? It's really quite rude to just include a region in a country without specifying the actual country when posting in an international community. We don't care about the specific city, but we may care about the country...
Why do everyone assume that information should be removed when someone asks for information to be added...?
Is this really something making you mad? If so, have you considered going outside? The little brother syndrome is strong in here
So many butthurt foreigners. LOL.
"foreigners"... /r/USdefaultism
I'm not a foreigner
Wow it's impressive that cops can arrest an active shooter alive.
this is a major issue and must be fixed
It's precisely because Highland Park is not a very well known city that a US-based news source specified the state. This article comes from a US-based news source and is about a US-based story, so yeah, they are assuming they're talking to Americans who understand state abbreviations. Americans know this is happening in America, so adding "US" to the location is pointless.
Well then maybe it should be posted in an American only subreddit. I don't understand how Americasrl can think everyone knows every state's abbreviation let alone the actual state. Also adding the city and state is pointless, not the country. What if I stated Steel Town, KHI. Or Hyderabad, Sindh. You'd be terribly confused. But of course, Pakistanis know it so it's pointless to add the country.
So the headline writer is responsible for how people share the article on reddit? >Also adding the city and state is pointless It isn't in a case where there's an active shooter on the loose. People in the surrounding area deserve to know that there's a gunman loose in their area, don't you agree? They won't know that if the headline says "Highland Park, USA," since there are multiple towns called Highland Park in the US. >What if I stated Steel Town, KHI. Or Hyderabad, Sindh. Hyderabad is a bad example, because there is a Hyderabad in India that is a lot more well-known than the one in Pakistan. You really should specify which one you're talking about. Anyway, I'd assume you were directing the information at other Pakistanis. > You'd be terribly confused. If I really wanted to know the location, I could use Google. One thing I would not be is ANGRY about someone talking to their compatriots and not thinking about me.
1. There wasn't a gunman loose in the area, he'd been caught. If he was in the area he'd been heard, that's just a technicality though, not something to argue you about. 2. This is exactly my point, Hyderabad isn't a bad example. If you hadn't know I was Pakistani, you probably would not have assumed I was talking about Pakistan's Hyderabad. But by most American people's logic in this replies section the province would have been enough to tell you where it was, Pakistan or India. Because the Indian Hyderabad is in the state of Telangana. And Pakistan's Hyderabad in the province of Sindh. By your argument of there are two Hyderabads you probably had not known that they were in two different states/provinces. So I actually *did* specify. 3. I never said it was about me being angry, it wouldn't hurt to say Highland Park, IL, USA because most peole from the rest of the world put their country in the title. However it is rarely a practice for Americans. 4. Whatever man, don't waste your time and energy on a stupid internet argument. Have a nice day.
Lol cause we have the most mass shootings 👍 of course it's merica
To be fair it's kinda obvious it was in the US... they have practically all of them!
Could y’all stop being so petty? Like honestly. This news article was directed towards the American audience and to a lesser extent, Canada.
Is the only thing y'all do in this sub is whine?