Do Americans often shorten “California” and “Canada” to “CA” in speaking?

Question

bsloan7 · Answer

No, I’ve only seen California shortened to CA in writing because every state has an abbreviation that’s used in writing. I’ve never seen Canada shortened to CA.

bsloan7 · Answer

@branduhn No, that’s why I said I’ve only seen it in writing. If people shorten it at all, they say Cali.

bsloan7 · Answer

@branduhn People use it when they write their addresses as well. And it’s pronounced [kaa-lee].

bsloan7 · Answer

@branduhn I’m sure there are other abbreviations, but it’s not common to use them for every city/state or even most cities/states.

For example, Oklahoma City is often referred to as OKC when talking about the basketball team from there. And Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia are sometimes called the DMV (ex. I grew up in the DMV). But I’ve only heard a few people who are from there say that. I don’t think it’s common for people who have not lived in one of those places to refer to the area as that because DMV is more often used as an acronym for the Department of Motor Vehicles.

bsloan7 · Answer

@branduhn You shouldn’t use “only” and “several” together. “Several” is similar in meaning to many. “Only” is used when there is a small amount of something.

bsloan7 · Answer

@branduhn LA and DC aren’t states. They’re cities. But yes, those are probably the most common abbreviations.

bsloan7 · Answer

@branduhn Cantonese is only used in a few provinces in China.

bsloan7 · Answer

@branduhn Yes, those sentences are natural!

bsloan7 · Answer

@branduhn No, those sentences are equally natural.

bsloan7 · Answer

@branduhn We use “go out”, not “go out together”. “Go out together” sounds unnatural and is almost a bit redundant in this case.

bsloan7 · Answer

@branduhn Yes

bsloan7 · Answer

@branduhn 1

bsloan7 · Answer

@branduhn Yes, that’s very natural!

bsloan7 · Answer

@branduhn That sentence is fine. I think I’d just say “TJ is probably a name”.

bsloan7 · Answer

No, I think only “the name” is correct when you extend the sentence.

bsloan7 · Answer

@branduhn No, we never do that.

bsloan7 · Answer

@branduhn It sounds more natural with “at”. You’re not comparing the starting salary at company A to company B. You’re comparing the starting salary at company A to the starting salary at company B.

emmarose7 · Answer

@branduhn Honestly, I can't think of any state abbreviations that are spoken other than Cali, and even that one isn't that common. I'm from California, and people here almost never call it Cali (people from other states say Cali more often). Every state does have its own nickname, but not really abbreviations that are spoken.

kungfumastershindo · Answer

only in writing, and no way canada is shortened to CA, here in California, we only have "nocal" and "social" lol. Sometimes, you will see some older people say "cali", and I guess some young people say it too.

kungfumastershindo · Answer

@branduhn just wanted to add on, SF, is used in speaking, but SJ isn't used for San Jose only in writing its like that.

kungfumastershindo · Answer

@branduhn no problem, also by "social" i meant "socal.

kungfumastershindo · Answer

@branduhn yeah, in the future if your coming to the bay with the other asians lol, you should also know east bay and west bay.

kungfumastershindo · Answer

@branduhn 你太幽默了！真的很厉害，你真的很天才！In America, you will instantly get a job and become rich hahaha. I'm wondering, why do you want to attain such a high level of English so well, I think people will get very confused if you come haha. People will just think your an ABC who is 装的

kungfumastershindo · Answer

@branduhn Will your future be in China or in America?

kungfumastershindo · Answer

@branduhn oh ok

wvtram · Answer

@branduhn nooo ca is only used for writing and texting california and canada. speaking as a californian, out loud, we only say “california”. i’ve also seen canada abbreviated as ca in, for example, the domain names of canadian websites “.ca”

wvtram · Answer

@branduhn np. yes

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn we do not, only on maps, and even then I’ve never seen it for Canada

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn we never say it, it’s only written on maps

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn people say it all the time, probably more than the full name. And for why, I’m not sure I guess that’s just how the culture around that city evolved. 
My moms whole family is from Cali and I’ve spent a lot of time there and they say LA a lot.

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn no, I’ve never heard someone abbreviate a state while speaking like that

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn some people say nyc, though it’s more common to say New York. I can’t think of other ones off the top of my head but it’s possible there is more

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn I would say “in” but I think you could get away with both here

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn yes

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn for that one use "of". "in" sounds a bit weird

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn both seem natural to me

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn i would likely say from

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn 2, but with the slight change of adding an “s” to “toward”

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn yeah, I would understand what you meant but it would sound weird.

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn it sounds a lot better if you say "towards" and not "toward" and honestly I'm not quite sure why. I can't think of anytime you could use "toward" where it won't sound better as "towards"

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn honestly, give me a minute and ill ask my friends what they say and get back to you, it's possible I'm crazy.

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn you don't need to read it if you don't want to, the gist is that half of us said we always use towards, and the other half said both.

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn that's what i think!

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn I think I would say 1,  but in general they are equally natural

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn I think 1&3 are the best. 2 makes it seem like one of two things, 1) he did model work dressed as an artist. 2) he was a “model artist” which means the perfect artist, that other people would try to live up to

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn 
1) not at all
2) 👍
3) sounds a little off
4) 👍
5) 👍
6) 👍

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn yup!

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn quite frankly, I’m terrible at spelling and wouldn’t be the best person to ask, my dad said he prefers “advisor” but honestly I’m not too sure.

pomjoep · Answer

@branduhn good luck!

Do Americans often shorten “California” and “Canada” to “CA” in speaking? See a translation

No, I’ve only seen California shortened to CA in writing because every state has an abbreviation that’s used in writing. I’ve never seen Canada shortened to CA.

@branduhn we do not, only on maps, and even then I’ve never seen it for Canada

@branduhn No, that’s why I said I’ve only seen it in writing. If people shorten it at all, they say Cali.

@branduhn we never say it, it’s only written on maps

@branduhn People use it when they write their addresses as well. And it’s pronounced [kaa-lee].

@branduhn people say it all the time, probably more than the full name. And for why, I’m not sure I guess that’s just how the culture around that city evolved. My moms whole family is from Cali and I’ve spent a lot of time there and they say LA a lot.

@branduhn yeah, in the future if your coming to the bay with the other asians lol, you should also know east bay and west bay.

@branduhn Will your future be in China or in America?

@branduhn oh ok

Do Americans often shorten “California” and “Canada” to “CA” in speaking?

@branduhn people say it all the time, probably more than the full name. And for why, I’m not sure I guess that’s just how the culture around that city evolved.
My moms whole family is from Cali and I’ve spent a lot of time there and they say LA a lot.