Nomenclature!

bermuda

Drummerworld Pro Drummer - Administrator
Staff member
Quick questions for members in Great Britain and Canada...

For the drum store database, what's the best country identifier for Great Britain? Is UK appropriate? England? Britain? Great Britain? Other countries are written out, such as Netherlands instead of NL.

And for the Canadian provinces, what are the best listings? ONT or ON for Ontario? QUE or QBC or QB for Quebec? Etc.

I'm from the US (or USA) so I have no idea!

Thanks! Hoping to make the list go live soon!

Bermuda
 
For Canada, here is what the federal government and Canada Post uses (the "Internationally approved alpha code" column would directly answer your question).

Province/TerritoryStandard abbreviations English/FrenchInternationally approved alpha code (Source: Canada Post)Standard geographical classification (SGC) codeRegion name
Newfoundland and LabradorN.L./T.-N.-L.NL10Atlantic
Prince Edward IslandP.E.I./Î.-P.-É.PE11Atlantic
Nova ScotiaN.S./N.-É.NS12Atlantic
New BrunswickN.B./N.-B.NB13Atlantic
QuebecQue./QcQC24Quebec
OntarioOnt./Ont.ON35Ontario
ManitobaMan./Man.MB46Prairies
SaskatchewanSask./Sask.SK47Prairies
AlbertaAlta./Alb.AB48Prairies
British ColumbiaB.C./C.-B.BC59British Columbia
YukonY.T./YnYT60Territories
Northwest TerritoriesN.W.T./T.N.-O.NT61Territories
NunavutNvt./NtNU
 
For Canada, here is what the federal government and Canada Post uses (the "Internationally approved alpha code" column would directly answer your question).

Thanks, I had seen that before but still not sure. For example, I've seen AB for Alberta and QBC for Quebec.

I'll go with their official abbreviations!
 
United Kingdom. That's the country (nation). Great Britain is the geographical location (it's the name of the island). England is, for all intents and purposes, equivalent to a US state, just a more powerful one than Wales, Scotland, and Northern Island. Go with UK, it's what all other international stores do.

I always thought that UK implied more than just England, even though I've seen addresses like London, UK

If there's a shop in Glasgow, would that also be considered Glasgow, UK?
 
I always thought that UK implied more than just England, even though I've seen addresses like London, UK

If there's a shop in Glasgow, would that also be considered Glasgow, UK?

Yes.

The UK is the country. England isn't a country. The UK refers to the soverign nation, comprising England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Glasgow is in the UK, and Scotland specifically, just like Huston is in the US, and Texas specifically.

If you're offering international shipping and stuff like that, don't differentiate between England and the rest. It all falls under UK customs.
 
I've just reread your initial post, and you're talking about a drum database. In that case, it could be useful to specify England, Scotland, etc., but I'd still group them into the UK. If I see "Glasgow" under the UK heading, I know it's in Scotland, but if I see.... I don't know, some little town I've never heard of, it could be useful to know where specifically, just like you might categorise by both the US and which state it appears in.
 
Yes, most people here say UK - which covers England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland.
I say UK almost all the time, sometimes England - if something is IN England, but usually UK (for United Kingdom).
Most Americans say England for everything, probably because they think the language is English, therefore the country......
 
but if I see.... I don't know, some little town I've never heard of, it could be useful to know where specifically
Well yes. I guess there are small towns with the same name in more than one part of the UK. The cities, where most drum shops are located, you mostly know are uniquely named.
 
Yes.

The UK is the country. England isn't a country. The UK refers to the soverign nation, comprising England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Glasgow is in the UK, and Scotland specifically, just like Huston is in the US, and Texas specifically.

If you're offering international shipping and stuff like that, don't differentiate between England and the rest. It all falls under UK customs.

Thanks!
 
I've just reread your initial post, and you're talking about a drum database. In that case, it could be useful to specify England, Scotland, etc., but I'd still group them into the UK. If I see "Glasgow" under the UK heading, I know it's in Scotland, but if I see.... I don't know, some little town I've never heard of, it could be useful to know where specifically, just like you might categorise by both the US and which state it appears in.

That's part of why we're also listing the metro areas.

But I also want the listings to be clear to everyone around the world who may not be familiar with another country's abbreviations/codes. Hopefully the metro area will clear up a lot of that. For example, when I see London, I don't have to agonize about where Battersea and Kentish Town etc are located. or when someone from Europe visiting Los Angeles can look at those metro listings to know that Monrovia is in the area.

The goal is to make the list both accurate, and user-friendly for those who travel and want to visit the shops in and near their destination cities.
 
Yes.

The UK is the country. England isn't a country. The UK refers to the soverign nation, comprising England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Glasgow is in the UK, and Scotland specifically, just like Huston is in the US, and Texas specifically.

If you're offering international shipping and stuff like that, don't differentiate between England and the rest. It all falls under UK customs.

that is cool to know
 
The British national mapmaking body for centuries has been The Ordnance Survey. Even they have published incorrect definitions of the state they represent!
Geographical and political terms confuse things further - is the main island Great Britain? Or does that include the Scottish Islands, etc.? Is the mainland called Albion ?
No-one agrees!
Not many who live here even know the official name of the state: 'The United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland'...
 
As others have said it is the island of Great Britain. Or, as we call it, the British Mainland. That's England, Scotland and Wales - not including the islands.

The main island groups of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland are the Scillies, the Inner Hebrides, the Outer Hebrides (or just the Hebrides), the Orkney Islands and Shetland. Other large islands include the Isle of Wight and Anglesey. These are all part of the United Kingdom but are not part of Great Britain. Northern Ireland is obviously part of the United Kingdom.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved assemblies which give them a level of self-determination over specific policies, e.g. health and education spending. Thus there is the Northen Ireland Assembly, the Welsh Assembly (Senedd) and the Scottish Parliament (alongside the UK Parliament in Westminster). Thusly in recent years, the United Kingdom has become more of federated collection of states than a whole country, although the devolved powers of the assemblies are nowhere near that of State-level government in the United States and is a recent development, with the Senedd and the Scottish Parliament being founded in 1999 and the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998.

The Isle of Man is a Crown Dependency, as are the Bailliwick of Guernsey (consisting of the islands of Guernsey, Alderney, Herm and Sark) and the Bailliwick of Jersey. These are not part of the United Kingdom but instead rely on the United Kingdom to provide defence and their currencies are pegged to the Pound Sterling. They can pass their own legislation (and are thus largely tax havens) but their laws are broadly the same.
 
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