BS: F.L.A?

Subject: F.L.A?
From: Ringer
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 09:32 AM

A music question, though to call it a folk- or blues-music question is stretching it a bit: Freddy Cannon's song, Tallahassee Lassie" (Click Here) contains the phrase "down in F.L.A." I presume that FLA is Florida (that's a question, really), but my main question is whether the abbreviation "FLA" is common for Florida, or whether the song-writer "invented" it to fit the song's rhythm ("Florida" has the same number of syllables, but would not have a correct emphasis if substituted). Thanks in anticipation...

Subject: RE: BS: F.L.A?
From: irishajo
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 09:44 AM

FLA is a fairly common abbreviation for Florida, I've heard it used in other contexts.

I think it went back to before we instituted the two letter abbreviations for states. 'Fla.' was easier to write on letters than Florida.

Subject: RE: BS: F.L.A?
From: MMario
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 09:49 AM

Yes, back in the days before the two letter postal codes for the various sates Many were longer "FLA" for Florida, "Mass" for Massachusetts; N. Car and S. Car for the Carolina's are a few I remember using in grade school.

Subject: RE: BS: F.L.A?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 09:50 AM

But the question was, do people actually say it, opposed to writing it on letters? And other states as well?

Subject: RE: BS: F.L.A?
From: Ringer
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 09:51 AM

Thanks, you two. Do you happen to know when the std 2-letter abbreviations were introduced?

Subject: RE: BS: F.L.A?
From: irishajo
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 10:02 AM

1963.

Here in Indiana the abbreviation used to be 'Ind.' but I've never heard anyone refer to the state that way. For some reason it doesn't sound weird to hear Florida referred to as F-L-A.

Subject: RE: BS: F.L.A?
From: MMario
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 10:08 AM

Pennsylvania is often referred to as P.A. (Pee Ay)

Subject: RE: BS: F.L.A?
From: SharonA
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 10:32 AM

Back to the pre-two-letter days, Pennsylvania was abbreviated as "Penna." or, less often, "Penn." I've never heard a spoken reference to "Penna", and "Penn" is used solely as the nickname for the University of Pennsylvania. I have heard the nickname "Pennzie" (PENN-zee) used for the state, so I wonder if "Pennsy." was ever an official or unofficial written abbreviation.

Subject: RE: BS: F.L.A?
From: catspaw49
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 10:39 AM

Probably only for the railroad Sharon....and in that context it was the name most widely used for the PRR so I doubt that many would use Pennsy to refer to the state.

As to FLA, I've heard it used on occasion but it's more cutesy than common usage.

Also, when they went to the two letter abbreviations, I think Ohio was one of the few that two was MORE than what was used......Prior to the change, the most common abbreviation was "O" by itself. Why you need to abbreviate a state name with only 4 letters is beyond me.....I still write Ohio out fully.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: F.L.A?
From: Amos
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 10:45 AM

But to answer the quesation asked, it is certainly NOT a commun usage, and i think Spaw has been listening to space-cadet bimbos as part of his rersearch on this question!! The songwriter was stretching to make something scan -- mighta done better to say Floriday, a back-formation from Californ-i-ay.

Too late now though. :>)

Subject: RE: BS: F.L.A?
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 11:52 AM

Having had friends in FLA before the FL days, I always put FLA on the envelope. But when we said it, we pronounced it Floh-dah. Guaranteed to upset any old Floridian! Since the Cuban invasion, I understand it is pronounced Flo-ree' dah.

Subject: RE: BS: F.L.A?
From: Big Tim
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 01:47 PM

"Holly came from Miami, Fla, hitchiked all the way across the USA" - Lou Reed.

Subject: RE: BS: F.L.A?
From: Troll
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 02:11 PM

I generally say "Flar-dah" but what do I know? I just live there.

troll

Subject: RE: BS: F.L.A?
From: catspaw49
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 03:39 PM

Hey! I said it was more cutesy than common usage! I've heard it as, "We're going to F-L-A and do the mouse," and that kind of thing. I doubt anyone living there says it as I also don't refer to Ohio as "O" although the correct pronounciation is Ahia (uh-HI-uh).

Of course there is just plain LA which to Amos means Los Angeles but down south it means not Louisiana but "Lower Alabama."

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: F.L.A?
From: Amos
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 05:20 PM

Don't knock LA, man!! You get your best research material from there!! We export space-cadet bimbos by the gross, wrapped up in big, skin-tight plastic sheets and stacked up on open trailers. And I'll have you know central Ohio is one of our hottest markets!!

LOL!

A

Subject: RE: BS: F.L.A?
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 05:30 PM

The FLA abbreviation dates back to before the USPostal Sevice (see oxymorons) decided to standardize all of the state abbreviation to two letters -- FL for Florida, WI for Wisconsin, OR for Oregon, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: F.L.A?
From: Celtic Soul
Date: 19 Apr 02 - 08:25 PM

There are 2 forms of common abbreviations for States here in the US. There are the abbreviations, and then there's the postal codes. FLA is the abbreviation, FL is the postal variant.

Here's the whole list:

Alabama Ala. AL Alaska Alaska AK Arizona Ariz. AZ Arkansas Ark. AR California Calif. CA Colorado Colo. CO Connecticut Conn. CT Delaware Del. DE Dist. of Columbia D.C. DC Florida Fla. FL Georgia Ga. GA Guam Guam GU Hawaii Hawaii HI Idaho Idaho ID Illinois Ill. IL Indiana Ind. IN Iowa Iowa IA Kansas Kans. KS Kentucky Ky. KY Louisiana La. LA Maine Maine ME Maryland Md. MD Massachusetts Mass. MA Michigan Mich. MI Minnesota Minn. MN Mississippi Miss. MS Missouri Mo. MO Montana Mont. MT Nebraska Nebr. NE Nevada Nev. NV New Hampshire N.H. NH New Jersey N.J. NJ New Mexico N.M. NM New York N.Y. NY North Carolina N.C. NC North Dakota N.D. ND Ohio Ohio OH Oklahoma Okla. OK Oregon Ore. OR Pennsylvania Pa. PA Puerto Rico P.R. PR Rhode Island R.I. RI South Carolina S.C. SC South Dakota S.D. SD Tennessee Tenn. TN Texas Tex. TX Utah Utah UT Vermont Vt. VT Virginia Va. VA Virgin Islands V.I. VI Washington Wash. WA West Virginia W.Va. WV Wisconsin Wis. WI Wyoming Wyo. WY