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Bill Bryson claimed to have received a letter addressed to ‘Bill Bryson, Writer, Yorkshire’. I have some cousins who live in a small town in Australia where th

by cjs_ac 4mo ago

Bill Bryson claimed to have received a letter addressed to ‘Bill Bryson, Writer, Yorkshire’. I have some cousins who live in a small town in Australia where the houses have neither names nor numbers. You just address the envelope to ‘<name>, <street>, <town>’, and it’s the postie’s responsibility to know where everyone lives. (‘Postie’ is the official job title in Australia Post because it’s gender-neutral.)

KurSix 4mo ago
I love these examples because they show that addressing has never really been as formal as we like to pretend
- mitxela 4mo ago
  Falsehoods programmers believe about addresses https://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-addresses/ https://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-a...
  - throw0101c 4mo ago
    And various discussions: * https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=mjt.me.uk https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=mjt.me.uk
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]
eythian 4mo ago
I lived in mildly rural NZ back in the day and it was the same, addresses were "name, street, RD# (rural delivery route number), town" and your mailbox had your name on the side (and a flag you could put up if you wanted mail collected.) Some time roughly mid-nineties we got numbers but originally they were just for emergency services, only later were they also for post, but I seem to recall the whole rural delivery system may have changed somehow around then too.
- gerdesj 4mo ago
  It works for Wal and Cooch! (I am a Brit and a massive fan of Footrot Flats)
- pseudohadamard 4mo ago
  RD addresses are still the same. Downside is you have to pay extra for rural delivery because the posties get danger money for avoiding the sheep-eating wetas.
wang_li 4mo ago
Until 2025 Carmel-by-the-Sea in California had no street addresses. The houses have names or you just have to know who lives in which building. They also didn't have postal delivery, they all had to go to the town post office and pick up their mail.

by cjs_ac 4mo ago

KurSix 4mo ago

I love these examples because they show that addressing has never really been as formal as we like to pretend

mitxela 4mo ago
Falsehoods programmers believe about addresses https://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-addresses/ https://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-a...
- throw0101c 4mo ago
  And various discussions: * https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=mjt.me.uk https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=mjt.me.uk
deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]

eythian 4mo ago

I lived in mildly rural NZ back in the day and it was the same, addresses were "name, street, RD# (rural delivery route number), town" and your mailbox had your name on the side (and a flag you could put up if you wanted mail collected.) Some time roughly mid-nineties we got numbers but originally they were just for emergency services, only later were they also for post, but I seem to recall the whole rural delivery system may have changed somehow around then too.

gerdesj 4mo ago
It works for Wal and Cooch! (I am a Brit and a massive fan of Footrot Flats)
pseudohadamard 4mo ago
RD addresses are still the same. Downside is you have to pay extra for rural delivery because the posties get danger money for avoiding the sheep-eating wetas.

wang_li 4mo ago

Until 2025 Carmel-by-the-Sea in California had no street addresses. The houses have names or you just have to know who lives in which building. They also didn't have postal delivery, they all had to go to the town post office and pick up their mail.