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HANTS -- Another Example Of Basic British Illiteracy [BBI] Syndrome?
Mon, 9 Oct 2006 20:33:05 +0100
soc.genealogy.britain
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D. Spencer Hines...
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Why do you Brits continue to abbreviate Hampshire as HANTS?
Illiterate Indeed...
Andrew Brydon...
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Better avoid Shropshire then... and Warwickshire...
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Eric Hartup...
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Well I live in Medway - a town that has never existed!!
I NEVER NEVER use it on my address because we were pushed into the Unitary
Renia...
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Well, you never know with these USians. They come up with such
historical rubbish on occasions, that a bit of satire can be seen as
something they actually believe. :-)
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Authority even after the results of two referenda in which the majority
voted against the move. Overturned by the Tories in Westminster!! So much
for democracy!!
Renia...
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I've got a German friend, bless him. He agrees with me that the problem
with France, is that it has French people in it.
He says his lot tried to get rid of them twice, but we Brits interfered.
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Eric H
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"Hampshire is often abbreviated in written form to _Hants_ and which
sometimes gives rise to puzzlement. The abbreviated form is derived from
the Old English _Hantum plus Scir_ (meaning a district governed from the
ray o'hara...
settlement now known as Southampton) and the Anglo-Saxons called it
_Hamtunschire_. At the time of the Domesday Book (1086) this was compressed
to _Hantescire_."
DSH
wtwjgc...
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As bad as FM, AA, AE and AP
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Frank ess...
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My born-in-1879-Utah grandmother's harshest expletive was "My Land!"
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Lux et Veritas et Libertas
Veritas Vos Liberabit
Mr. Dataman...
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Because we have a history.
Now where have I seen strange abbreviations before -
Oh yes - OH, WY, KS, AZ, TX, MN......the list goes on.
ray o'hara...
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those are postal abreviations, they make sense
Frank Erskine...
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Why do they make sense for postal purposes?
ray o'hara...
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they are short and easy for the sorting machines to read.
John Cartmell...
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And the county abbreviations were easy for the postman sorters to read. Being
shortened made it more likely they would be written clearly.
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and they take the key letter sounds.
oh = OHio , wy =WYoming ks = KanSas, az =ArizZona mn MiNnesota,
there are a lot of M states, they confuse people,
can you gues without looking them up?
MA
ME
MI
MS
MO
MT
D. Spencer Hines...
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Massachusetts
Maine
Michigan
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Are all very sensible.
So are:
MN
MD
MH
Minnesota
Maryland
Marshall Islands
Which the puerile, ignorant pogue forgot.
Plus MP.
DSH
Veritas Vos Liberabit
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bg998...
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Don't forget CA for California. But in the U.S. system, CA is also the
country abbreviation for Canada. You can imagine the confusion in that
xenophobic system when I try to buy things by mail order.
... Martin in Canada
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wtwjgc...
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When will Americans learn to use and spell English words correctly?
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