For some strange reason (even I’m not sure why), I started thinking about the abbreviations of the names of our 50 states. “Surely there’s not enough information about that to fill an entire column,” I said to myself. So I did a little research.

Boy was I wrong. As you’d expect, the United States Postal Service has a lot to do with the abbreviations of state names – but it’s not the only influence. Here’s some of what I found about such abbreviations.

On Oct. 1, 1963, the USPOD (U.S. Post Office Department) issued Publication 59: “Abbreviations for Use with ZIP Code” in which it said the name of each state shall be reduced to two letters that are capitalized and not followed by a period. (An earlier list, publicized in June 1963, had proposed capitalized abbreviations ranging from two to five letters.)

Why just two letters? According to Publication 59, the two-letter standard was “based on a maximum 23-position line, because this has been found to be the most universally acceptable line capacity basis for major addressing systems.”

As you may have deduced from above, the impetus for all this state name shortening was the Post Office’s introduction on July 1, 1963, of a new program to speed up the delivery of mail across the country: the ZIP (Zone Improvement Program) Code.

In a nutshell, the first three digits of the new ZIP Code directed the mail to the correct Sectional Center Facility (sorting center) while the last two digits provided a more precise locale. And that’s how the ZIP Code system would stay until 1983 — except for the change of Nebraska’s abbreviation from NB to NE in 1969 so it wouldn’t be confused with New Brunswick, Canada.

In 1983, a dozen years after the U.S. Post Office Department had become the U.S. Postal Service, it introduced an even more targeted system for delivering the mail called ZIP+4. According to the ZIP Code basics page at faq.usps.com, “when using a ZIP+4 ZIP Code, the number must consist of five digits, a hyphen (or dash), and four digits.”

For you dash enthusiasts, the dash used in ZIP+4 is the shorter “en” dash (-) as opposed to the longer “em” dash (—).

If you can believe it, in its Manual of Style, the Government Printing Office goes even further regarding punctuation, stating that the comma is omitted “before (a) ZIP Code postal-delivery number.” The GPO uses its own address as an example: “Government Printing Office, Thornburg, VA 22565-0120”

(I’ve wondered: If the Postal Service was so worried about saving every little bit of space, why didn’t its leaders mandate the elimination of the comma between the city and state as well? I know. Another one of my questions that will forever go unanswered.)

“OK, Word Guy,” I hear you grousing. “All that Post Office stuff is all well and good — maybe — but are there other ways of abbreviating the state names, and if so, says who?

Well, I’m glad you reminded me, and yes there is. The Associated Press uses state name abbreviations in its datelines, in lists, and in short-form political listings of party affiliation, such as D-Ala. and R-Mont.

The AP’s abbreviations are very much like the ones originally suggested by the Post Office Department in June of ‘63 in that they range in length from two letters to five, such as: Md., Ore., Minn. and Calif.

The Associated Press Stylebook also points out that the names of Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah are never abbreviated. And that’s the long and the short of state name abbreviations.

Jim Witherell of Lewiston is a writer and lover of words whose work includes “L.L. Bean: The Man and His Company” and “Ed Muskie: Made in Maine.” He can be reached at jlwitherell19@gmail.com.