Does LA mean Louisiana or Los Angeles on this Forum (You decide)

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by davychan

there are about 4.6m people in louisana while about 3.8m in los angeles. so no, louisiana has a good bit more.

Except that LA County has 10 million+ (13 million+ in the metropolitan statistical area) - most people who don't live in the LA basin use the term "LA" to mean most of the greater Los Angeles area, not just the city limits.

Since I live on the west coast, LA = Los Angeles. Louisiana = Louisiana.

[Aceter]

People from Louisiana never refer to it as L.A. but will sometimes to refer to it as " The Boot State " for high school football players it's " The L ". Los Angeles has been and will probably always be considered L.A. to Louisianans. The only connection to speak of was the Lala festival held in Los Angeles among African Americans with roots in Louisiana.

[CurlyFries]

I've always used "LO" for Louisiana for this reason.

[jtur88]

For what it's worth, my roommate in college in Louisiana, a guy from New Orleans, was a navy vet on GI bill. I asked him what ship he was on and he said "L-A". He was refereeing to the heavy cruiser USS Los Angeles (CA-135).

Nobody in Louisiana EVER calls the state L-A when speaking, and I doubt if anybody else does either (except teen-age girl text-talkers). But of course it is often written that way because the standard postal code abbreviation for Louisiana is LA.

A similar discussion can be engaged about CA, and whether it means California or Canada when used in forums. OMG, if only people would get over the idea that you can write English for general readership using text-message shorthand.

I'm trying to think of a state where the abbreviation is often used in speaking about the state, and Pennsylvania comes to mind. I think a lot of people say P-A to refer to Pennsylvania.

Originally Posted by CurlyFries

I've always used "LO" for Louisiana for this reason.

That doesn't help communications. I'd have no idea what you were talking about.

[annie_himself]

We don't say LA. We say Louisiana. Thread over.

[PDF]

Originally Posted by annie_himself

We don't say LA. We say Louisiana. Thread over.

Pretty much. Everyone on here refers to Los Angeles as LA, and nobody ever gets confused.