4 ms·

From an online form: Location (City, Country): Singapore Nope. Singapore, Singapore. >:(

twic 11y ago
UK forms which ask for a city and a county present the same problem for residents of London. US forms which ask for a city and a state present a similar problem for residents of New York. You're part of a select club!
- thisone 11y ago
  Not sure I understand. The city of London is in the county of Greater London. New York City is in the state of New York. But Singapore is a city-state.
  - twic 11y ago
    Do you really not understand, or are you being oblique? In any case, there is no county of Greater London. Greater London is an 'administrative area' - have a read of the London Government Act 1963, which created it, and abolished the county of London which had existed before. That's why we have a Greater London Authority (and before that a Greater London Council), rather than the London County Council we had when London was a county. Of course, everyone treats it as a county because it would be maddening not to, but that's a bit like how everyone treats Washington DC as a state of the US (oh, we should add Washington DC to that list). Legally, there is no 'London' which is a proper subset of Greater London (other than the City of London, which is a red herring in this case). So putting "London, London" is directly analogous to putting "Singapore, Singapore". The New York case is different, but it still involves writing the name of your city twice. If anything, it's even sillier, because the whole state is named after one city. EDIT: clarify about the GLA, GLC, and LCC (i hope)
    - takno 11y ago
      London, along with most county towns in the UK shouldn't have a county appended to them. This isn't the case for New York.
      - twic 11y ago
        In a postal address, no. But in the comment which spawned this godforsaken subthread, i specifically referred to "UK forms which ask for a city and a county".
        takno 11y ago
        In administrative terms about half the cities and many of the large towns in the UK aren't part of a county anymore. It's just a field which doesn't help much if there's a postcode, and should never have been mandatory anywhere.
- mikeash 11y ago
  County can cause trouble in the US as well, as not all cities are part of a county. In Virginia, cities are separate county-level entities, so at my old address, when people needed to know my county, the answer was "Alexandria City." Computers were mostly up to speed with this, but it sometimes confused humans from out of state when they asked. A fun example is Fairfax, which is both a county and a city, and while the city is surrounded by the county, it isn't part of the county. Weirder still, Fairfax, the city, is the county seat for Fairfax, the county. Note that city and state isn't really a problem for residents of New York. The city is still in the state, and the official address will read "New York, NY," which is repetitive but correct.

twic 11y ago

UK forms which ask for a city and a county present the same problem for residents of London. US forms which ask for a city and a state present a similar problem for residents of New York. You're part of a select club!

thisone 11y ago
Not sure I understand. The city of London is in the county of Greater London. New York City is in the state of New York. But Singapore is a city-state.
- twic 11y ago
  Do you really not understand, or are you being oblique? In any case, there is no county of Greater London. Greater London is an 'administrative area' - have a read of the London Government Act 1963, which created it, and abolished the county of London which had existed before. That's why we have a Greater London Authority (and before that a Greater London Council), rather than the London County Council we had when London was a county. Of course, everyone treats it as a county because it would be maddening not to, but that's a bit like how everyone treats Washington DC as a state of the US (oh, we should add Washington DC to that list). Legally, there is no 'London' which is a proper subset of Greater London (other than the City of London, which is a red herring in this case). So putting "London, London" is directly analogous to putting "Singapore, Singapore". The New York case is different, but it still involves writing the name of your city twice. If anything, it's even sillier, because the whole state is named after one city. EDIT: clarify about the GLA, GLC, and LCC (i hope)
  - takno 11y ago
    London, along with most county towns in the UK shouldn't have a county appended to them. This isn't the case for New York.
    - twic 11y ago
      In a postal address, no. But in the comment which spawned this godforsaken subthread, i specifically referred to "UK forms which ask for a city and a county".
      - takno 11y ago
        In administrative terms about half the cities and many of the large towns in the UK aren't part of a county anymore. It's just a field which doesn't help much if there's a postcode, and should never have been mandatory anywhere.
mikeash 11y ago
County can cause trouble in the US as well, as not all cities are part of a county. In Virginia, cities are separate county-level entities, so at my old address, when people needed to know my county, the answer was "Alexandria City." Computers were mostly up to speed with this, but it sometimes confused humans from out of state when they asked. A fun example is Fairfax, which is both a county and a city, and while the city is surrounded by the county, it isn't part of the county. Weirder still, Fairfax, the city, is the county seat for Fairfax, the county. Note that city and state isn't really a problem for residents of New York. The city is still in the state, and the official address will read "New York, NY," which is repetitive but correct.