Minor things that bother you

[Hunty2022]

People referring to airports with their three-letter codes in a context where their audience likely is not familiar with these codes.

Even worse: Calgary uses YYC, their airport code, for everything Calgary.

CGY is used for the Calgary Flames, but the NHL may have assigned the abbreviation to them.

[thspfc]

EWR for Newark is far from obvious as well. NWK would be bettter. At least LaGuardia is LGA and JFK is JFK.

Then MCO for Orlando named after the former Air Force Base it was is far from the name. 

ORD for O Hare is another.

My list of airport codes that are acceptable to use in a normal setting (definitely missing some)

- JFK
- DFW
- OKC
- LAX because it sounds cool

All the others that I can think of are either a) not obvious enough, b) stupid, or c) redundant to the name of the city because the three letters take more effort to say than the city name (i.e. SLC vs Salt Lake, STL vs St. Louis).

Yes, I am choosing to die on this hill. Admittedly I've barely left my house since Wednesday because of awful weather.

I assume this applies to speech only? I agree that saying "ess ell cee" aloud instead of "Salt Lake City" is kind of silly, but in textual form it seems like a perfectly reasonable abbreviation.

Other possible "normal" airport codes: ABQ, MSP, COS

SLC and STL are reasonable in text. Come to think of it I do use those abbreviations, though not specifically referring to the airports.

[1995hoo]

People referring to airports with their three-letter codes in a context where their audience likely is not familiar with these codes.

Even worse: Calgary uses YYC, their airport code, for everything Calgary.

CGY is used for the Calgary Flames, but the NHL may have assigned the abbreviation to them.

Part of the reason for the league's use of CGY is that when the Flames moved from Atlanta to Calgary in 1980, it hadn't been that long since the California Golden Seals had relocated to Cleveland, so "CAL" was still associated with them in the record book and recent stats. (It's still technically associated with them in the record book. You just don't see it that often anymore.)

[mgk920]

Or like with CVG for CoVinGton, KY (the main airport for the Cincinnati,OH metro area).

Mike

[kkt]

Regular boards are boring.

Well, the ones about tunnels certainly are...

[Max Rockatansky]

Regular boards are boring.

Well, the ones about tunnels certainly are...

Regular boards are boring to those who deal in the fantastical and unrealistic.

[webny99]

EWR for Newark is far from obvious as well. NWK would be bettter. At least LaGuardia is LGA and JFK is JFK.

Then MCO for Orlando named after the former Air Force Base it was is far from the name. 

ORD for O Hare is another.

My list of airport codes that are acceptable to use in a normal setting (definitely missing some)

- JFK
- DFW
- OKC
- LAX because it sounds cool

All the others that I can think of are either a) not obvious enough, b) stupid, or c) redundant to the name of the city because the three letters take more effort to say than the city name (i.e. SLC vs Salt Lake, STL vs St. Louis).

Yes, I am choosing to die on this hill. Admittedly I've barely left my house since Wednesday because of awful weather.

All four of the upstate NY ones I mentioned, those being BUF, ROC, SYR, and ALB, are significantly shorter than saying the entire city name.

[GaryV]

All four of the upstate NY ones I mentioned, those being BUF, ROC, SYR, and ALB, are significantly shorter than saying the entire city name.

Maybe if you pronounce it "buff" or "rock", etc. But if you pronounce the letters individually it's 3 syllables each - the same as saying the city name.

[kphoger]

...and I've never heard anyone pronounce DFW or SLC as acronyms.  Actually, come to think of it, I've never heard LAX pronounced as an acronym either.

Wichita is ICT, which does indeed sound kind of fun as an acronym.

[JoePCool14]

Regular boards are boring.

I find most of Fictional Highways boring. I appreciate creative threads like turning a state into a lake and adjusting highways or threads about one state's DOT running another. These are fun and don't take themselves too seriously. But the threads full of random proposals from one or even several individuals aren't interesting.

[Scott5114]

Regular boards are boring.

I find most of Fictional Highways boring. I appreciate creative threads like turning a state into a lake and adjusting highways or threads about one state's DOT running another. These are fun and don't take themselves too seriously. But the threads full of random proposals from one or even several individuals aren't interesting.

They do have the tendency to be either breathtakingly obvious (why yes, maybe US-71 in Kansas City should be a freeway) or absolutely demented (FritzOwl).

Hitting the sweet spot in between (like the Denver-OKC interstate proposals) does happen, but it's uncommon.

[hbelkins]

And why is it pronounced "Y Y Zed" sometimes?

Because both the airport and the band are Canadian. That's how it's supposed to be pronounced.

So Canadians pronounce the letter "Z" as "zed" instead of "zee" like Americans do?

Why?

[Scott5114]

And why is it pronounced "Y Y Zed" sometimes?

Because both the airport and the band are Canadian. That's how it's supposed to be pronounced.

So Canadians pronounce the letter "Z" as "zed" instead of "zee" like Americans do?

Why?

"Zed" is "zeta" without the "a" sound on the end. America is the only English-speaking country that pronounces Z as "zee".

[US 89]

...and I've never heard anyone pronounce DFW or SLC as acronyms.

I haven't either, but there is SLCC, which stands for Salt Lake Community College and is pronounced "slick" .

Also, I have never heard the individual letters pronounced in SLC. It takes less effort to just say "Salt Lake"  or "the airport" , which is fine because there's only one commercial airport. DFW is useful as a code because it clarifies you're not talking about Love Field.

[zachary_amaryllis]

It wasn't until relatively recently that I found out why Rush entitled that certain instrumental "YYZ."

Ah, but did you know that the rhythm of the guitar riff is set to "YYZ"  in Morse code?

Welp, any day I can learn something new, it's a good one. Love that song, but this literally never occurred to me. I thought, for some weird Rush-y reason, it was named after the zipper manufacturer.

[thspfc]

EWR for Newark is far from obvious as well. NWK would be bettter. At least LaGuardia is LGA and JFK is JFK.

Then MCO for Orlando named after the former Air Force Base it was is far from the name. 

ORD for O Hare is another.

My list of airport codes that are acceptable to use in a normal setting (definitely missing some)

- JFK
- DFW
- OKC
- LAX because it sounds cool

All the others that I can think of are either a) not obvious enough, b) stupid, or c) redundant to the name of the city because the three letters take more effort to say than the city name (i.e. SLC vs Salt Lake, STL vs St. Louis).

Yes, I am choosing to die on this hill. Admittedly I've barely left my house since Wednesday because of awful weather.

All four of the upstate NY ones I mentioned, those being BUF, ROC, SYR, and ALB, are significantly shorter than saying the entire city name.

Are any of those cities identifiable by those codes (for the average person, not us nerds)?

If someone told me they're flying to "BUF"  or "ALB"  I would be like "where? "

[webny99]

All four of the upstate NY ones I mentioned, those being BUF, ROC, SYR, and ALB, are significantly shorter than saying the entire city name.

Are any of those cities identifiable by those codes (for the average person, not us nerds)?

If someone told me they're flying to "BUF"  or "ALB"  I would be like "where? "

They're definitely identifiable and understandable for anyone who lives in upstate NY; not necessarily for a random person in another state, but I think that's outside the scope of the discussion if we're talking "in a normal setting". None of these are hub airports and pretty much no one flies here except locals, people visiting locals, and the occasional business traveler.

[LilianaUwU]

[Fictional Highways threads] do have the tendency to be either breathtakingly obvious (why yes, maybe US-71 in Kansas City should be a freeway) or absolutely demented (FritzOwl).

My ideas are so demented that they're in a different universe altogether (Minecraft's).

[Scott5114]

All four of the upstate NY ones I mentioned, those being BUF, ROC, SYR, and ALB, are significantly shorter than saying the entire city name.

Are any of those cities identifiable by those codes (for the average person, not us nerds)?

If someone told me they're flying to "BUF"  or "ALB"  I would be like "where? "

They're definitely identifiable and understandable for anyone who lives in upstate NY; not necessarily for a random person in another state, but I think that's outside the scope of the discussion if we're talking "in a normal setting". None of these are hub airports and pretty much no one flies here except locals, people visiting locals, and the occasional business traveler.

I could see someone thinking ALB is Albuquerque, but really, what else would BUF possibly be?

[Fictional Highways threads] do have the tendency to be either breathtakingly obvious (why yes, maybe US-71 in Kansas City should be a freeway) or absolutely demented (FritzOwl).

My ideas are so demented that they're in a different universe altogether (Minecraft's).

I inflict mine upon my friends and make them roll dice to get out of them.

[LilianaUwU]

[Fictional Highways threads] do have the tendency to be either breathtakingly obvious (why yes, maybe US-71 in Kansas City should be a freeway) or absolutely demented (FritzOwl).

My ideas are so demented that they're in a different universe altogether (Minecraft's).

I inflict mine upon my friends and make them roll dice to get out of them.

Speaking of which, when are we gonna hear about your system that's run by orcs?

[Scott5114]

[Fictional Highways threads] do have the tendency to be either breathtakingly obvious (why yes, maybe US-71 in Kansas City should be a freeway) or absolutely demented (FritzOwl).

My ideas are so demented that they're in a different universe altogether (Minecraft's).

I inflict mine upon my friends and make them roll dice to get out of them.

Speaking of which, when are we gonna hear about your system that's run by orcs?

I'm, uh. Revising the MUTCD right now, actually. So as soon as I have time to finish that...

[webny99]

All four of the upstate NY ones I mentioned, those being BUF, ROC, SYR, and ALB, are significantly shorter than saying the entire city name.

Are any of those cities identifiable by those codes (for the average person, not us nerds)?

If someone told me they're flying to "BUF"  or "ALB"  I would be like "where? "

They're definitely identifiable and understandable for anyone who lives in upstate NY; not necessarily for a random person in another state, but I think that's outside the scope of the discussion if we're talking "in a normal setting". None of these are hub airports and pretty much no one flies here except locals, people visiting locals, and the occasional business traveler.

I could see someone thinking ALB is Albuquerque, but really, what else would BUF possibly be?

For ALB, point taken, but I'd actually say it a little differently when speaking. I would say Albany more like "ulb" but Albuquerque with more of a nasal "A" sound (but who knows if I'm pronouncing it correctly).

And I haven't gotten creative enough to come up with somewhere else that BUF could be referring to.

[vdeane]

^ Buffalo, WY?  According to Google Maps, there's even an airport near there...

[zachary_amaryllis]

[Fictional Highways threads] do have the tendency to be either breathtakingly obvious (why yes, maybe US-71 in Kansas City should be a freeway) or absolutely demented (FritzOwl).

My ideas are so demented that they're in a different universe altogether (Minecraft's).

I read somewhere an article, talking about how Mojang tricked all us Minecraft people, into learning a CAD program with monsters.

[Scott5114]

Not to mention I believe redstone is Turing-complete, so you're at risk of learning programming too.