Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2009 June 23

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June 23

Washington, DC

I have two questions when referring to "Washington, DC" in formal writing. (1) In the "DC" ... are you supposed to use two periods, no periods, or either way is fine ... (that is, D.C. versus DC) ...? And (2) where the name falls in the middle of a sentence, do you include/exclude a comma after the DC? (Example: I am moving to Washington, DC, in July. OR I am moving to Washington, DC in July.) Thanks. (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 06:28, 23 June 2009 (UTC))

If the formal writing you're talking about is governed by a style guide like the Chicago Manual of Style or the Associated Press Stylebook, you want to do whatever that style guide says.

On the first question, "D.C." is the traditional abbreviation, like "Ill." and "Okla." and "Pa."; "DC" is the postal abbreviation, like "IL" and "OK" and "PA". These days it is very common to use the postal abbreviations, especially in contexts where they come up a lot, but I would say it's still acceptable to use only the traditional abbreviations if you prefer.

On the second question, some publications where these abbreviations occur a lot and where they use the postal abbreviation no longer use a comma before it. This allows lists of cities to be conveniently written in the style "Chicago IL, Tulsa OK, Washington DC, Harrisburg PA". But otherwise you should use a comma before and after the state name or abbreviation, unless there is some other punctuation.

--Anonymous, 08:59 UTC, June 23, 2009.

As a point of interest rather than as advice, the Washington Post's practice is "D.C." (periods, no spaces) and "Washington, D.C." --- OtherDave (talk) 20:37, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

And if the sentence continues after "D.C."? --Anon, 05:07 UTC, June 24, 2009.

Like any acronym, you just continue writing. "My friend is from Washington, D.C. and I am from Chicago." Livewireo (talk) 16:01, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

No, as has been pointed out above, you use a comma after the abbreviation (not "acronym") just as you used one before it—and just as commas are, for example, needed on both sides of "Illinois" in "Chicago, Illinois, is the third most populous city in the United States." Such parenthetical elements are enclosed by commas. Deor (talk) 16:34, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

I agree with that analysis. My approach to this sort of question is to repunctuate the relevant part of the text using parentheses instead of commas: "My friend is from Washington (D.C.) and I am from Chicago". If it makes the same essential sense whether the "(D.C.)" is there or not - and it does - then it's clearly parenthetical. You could leave the parentheses there, or you can safely replace them with commas. But you'd never use only a left parenthesis, so don't use only one comma. -- JackofOz (talk) 11:47, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Clearing line

What is "clearing line"?174.3.103.39 (talk) 21:37, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

I don't play these games, but it looks as though the meaning is the same as the "clear line" that defines the "clear zone" as described elsewhere on that page. --Anonymous, 09:38 UTC, June 24, 2009.

Belt

What is "belt"?174.3.103.39 (talk) 21:59, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

I don't see belt in the section of the page you link to but do see it in the section entitled "Durango Boot", where it seems to mean "product of a line and an interval", that is, a rectangle whose one sidelength is finite and the other infinite.—msh210℠ 22:09, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Oops, your correct, the link is [1].174.3.103.39 (talk) 01:46, 24 June 2009 (UTC)