Brian, I can pretty well answer your questions for the U.S. and Canada
(there are only a few Canadian differences). Unless noted, my commits
apply to both the US and Canada.
Phone Numbers/Phones:
1) (###) ###-#### (US & Canada)
2) Mobile numbers are the same as traditional phones. The exchanges (the
### before the dash) are exclusive to either mobile or tradition phones but
aren't constant between area codes.
3) Mobile phones are referred to both as "mobile" and "cell" (a think
"cell" is the slightly more popular of the two)
Text Messages:
1) Almost always called a "text message" (as a verb, it's "I'll text
him/her.").
2) Virtually all cellular phones sold in the last three plus years have
SMS support but text messaging service is typically an extra cost so the
majority of cell phone users don't use it. The exception is children,
teens and young adults who use it heavily (in the US most kids over 12 seem
to have a cell phone).
Instant Messages (you didn't ask but just as an FYI):
1) Usually called an "IM" (as a verb, it's "I'll IM him/her.")
Dates:
1) In the US the preferred date format is mm/dd/yyyy (in Canada the norm
is dd/mm/yyyy but the US format is commonly understood and used as well).
Addresses (formats very somewhat but this would be the most common):
1) First the sequence:
Name
Title
Company or Organization
Department or Group Identifier
1st Address Line (usually the street address but possibly a post of
box or rural route address)
2nd Address Line (usually an apartment, suite or building number or a
mail stop ID)
City, State or Province Zip or Postal Code
2) Many of these lines are "optional" (Title, Company or Organization,
Department or Group Identifier, 2nd Address Line). Most residential
addresses (non-business) are three lines (Name; Address Line 1; City, State
or Province Zip or Postal Code). Apartment or condominium addresses
sometimes use the 2nd address line for the unit number or may add it to the
end of the 1st address line (usually separated with a comma).
3) 1st Address Line Format:
typically #### aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Rd (as you describe in Australia)
The post office automated address correctors uses abbreviations
exclusively for street types (Rd, Blvd, Ct, Dr for Road, Boulevard, Court,
Drive).
Many addresses have a north, south, east or west modifier (N, S, E or
W) following the #### number (#### N aaaaaaaaaaaaa Rd).
A few cities are "quadranted" and use NE, NW, SE or SW modifiers at
the end of the address line (#### aaaaaaaaaaaaa Rd NE).
4) States (or Canadian Provinces) to match the post office automated
address correctors are always two letter abbreviations with both letters
capitalized and separated from the city with a comma followed by a blank space.
5) Zip Codes in the US are all numeric formatted as #####-#### (with a
dash between positions 5 and 6). Sometimes only the first five digits are
used but the post office strongly prefers use of all 9 digits.
6) Postal Codes in Canada are mixed letters and numbers in this format A#A
#A# (letters are all caps and there's usually, but not always, a blank
space between characters 3 and 4).
7) Zip or Postal codes usually follow the State or Province preceded by
one or two (most common) blank spaces.
8) "Cities" are bigger than "towns" but almost all fill-in forms are
labeled "City". If you live in a suburb of a big city you only use the
suburb (town) name in the address; there's no reference to the big city's name.
9) Mail between the US and Canada usually doesn't include the country in
the address (the two letter state or province abbreviations make it plain
where the mail is going). Mail from the US or Canada to any other country
should always included the country. US protectorates (like Puerto Rico or
Guam) all have assigned two letter abbreviations assigned as well.
I think that pretty well covers it. Write back if I've neglected something.
Pat Riley
At 12:18 AM 11/27/2006, you wrote:
Hi Everyone,
I am well on my way towards completing what I am hoping we will be a
commercially viable dynamic web application based on DataPerfect. Those
who have followed what I have been doing I have been writing a web
application for my football (soccer) club, and have been successfully
piloting it over the past season. About 5 months ago, another of my other
clients asked me what I had been up to and I told him about it, and he
showed interest, and in fact committed his club to using it if I was
prepared to sell it to them. I have had lots of similar responses, and so
I have been spending lots of time writing the software.
The market for the software in Australia would be reasonably limited, and
in some measure would be hard to make commercially viable solely for this
market, so I have been internationalising it at much as I can, but now I
am getting to the fine details I was just wanting to check out some
details about other markets. I want to concentrate on English speaking
markets to start with, eg Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada
and the USA, only because I am more familiar with those countries, but I
still have some details, which I am hoping some of you might be able to
help out with:
Phone Numbers
What is the format of phone numbers, eg for Australia it is
(xx) zzzz-zzzz (where "xx" is the area code and "zzzz-zzzz")
that basic format will also work for home, mobile (cell) and most work
phones in Australia,
What is the format that works most of the time there?
What are mobile phones usually called? mobile, cell?
When I send a text message from my mobile phone to another mobile phone, I
call that an SMS. Is it usually called an SMS ot Text Messaging or
something else?
Generally do all mobile phones have SMS/Text capabilities?
Is there anything that distinguishes a mobile phone from landline phones,
in Australia mobiles phones have the area code (04)
Dates
In Australia our date format is usually of the form dd/mm/yyyy or
dd-mm-yyyy, what is the normal date format there?
Addresses
In Australia I would my address as:
Brian Hancock
xx yyyyyyyyyy Rd
Gladesville NSW 2111
being:
name
xx=street_number yyyyyyyyy=street_name street_type
suburb/town/city state postcode
What is the most common format for addressing in your country?
In Australia we do not need to note the city, for example Gladeville is a
Suburb of Sydney, but we do not need to mention the city. Is that the same
in your country?
What do you call the component of the address
street address, or just address,
suburb or town or ???
state, province or region
postcode or zipcode
Do you usually use state or region abbreviations in addresses?
In Australia the format of a postcode is always 4 digits eg 2111. What is
the postalcode format there?
Is there anything I have missed that I should have asked.
Sorry to burden you with these question... I hope you do not mind.
Thanks
Brian
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