Remember when the United States Postal Service advised the world that all state abbreviations would be only two letters, and they must be capitalized? 

    Mass confusion followed and everyone thought that meant every time one abbreviated a state, it must be capitalized—Va., became VA. So we thought. I had a big discussion with a teacher friend of mine. She tried to explain it to me, but I’ll admit I just didn’t get it.

    Now, I get it. And I hope you will too. The only time you use the two capital letters, VA, is when it is followed by a zip code. That means on a piece of mail, or as a full address in an ad, for example, you use VA.
If you simply want to put Callao, and the state, you have two proper choices: Va. or Virginia. If you do not follow Va. with a zip code, that form is correct.

    Another little buggy item which bothers me is 1-804...or 1-800... Now who doesn’t know that when dialing long distance or a toll free number you must first dial a one (1)?

    And if you don’t know and dial incorrectly, you can be assured that whoever took Ma Bell’s place in your town will come on the line and tell you to dial one (1) first. 

    One of the things we strive for in Chesapeake Style is consistency, in our articles and in our ads. So, please be patient with us, if you don’t see a “1” in front of those long distance or toll free numbers. We think you’re smart enough to know what to do. 

    Another little quirk is that we remove the parenthesis (...) before and after the area code. Again,we think you’re smart enough to know whether the area code you are dialing is local or long distance.
We have a guest writer this month, Kathy Ryan Juron, who tells a poignant story about a dog, Lydia, and the death of her owner. When Tanyua Dickenson, a reporter and photographer for the Rappahannock Record, died after a short illness, I kept asking about Lydia, her much beloved dog. Kathy has the answer.

    We welcome and print your letters and email, so send us your thoughts, tell us what you’d like to see in Chesapeake Style!

    We are excited about the coming year, and expect to include more articles about the social goings on and events in the Chesapeake Bay Region. Send us your calendar and we’ll do our best to include your events in our Celebrations.

© 2001 Janet Abbott Fast All Rights Reserved