In some parts of Britain residents are campaigning for - how shall I put it? - upgraded postcodes:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26367320


This reminds of the comment of a lady who lives in London SW10 and once commented to me: It's most annoying. Some people don't recognize SW10 as part of Chelsea!(According to the 'official' Royal Mail designations, SW10 is West Brompton - also the name of a cemetery, and Chelsea is SW3).

Does one find this kind of thing in other countries, too?

Belgium has only numerical postcodes, which don't give much trouble.

The USA has five digit ZIP codes, and Canada's are six characters, a number then a letter three times (i.e.: D7W 3M4), so those are not a problem. The first digit of the ZIP code in the US tells you the part of the country (Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana all start with 7). The second digit goes to a specific state, then gets more centrally located thereafter. Using Dallas, for example, the 7 says south central, the 5 goes to Texas, the 2 would then go to Dallas (all 99 codes beginning 752 are city of Dallas proper - 75200 is not used).

edit to add: the example I used for Canada is NOT a valid code (yes, I googled it).

The USA also has a four digit add on to the "main" zip code, which specifies even more where the mail is going. I use it for when I'm giving my address to someone sending me money or other nice present. When I give my screws to those I really don't want to hear from in a hurry, I don't use the four digit add on.

But zip codes in the USA are also used to classify an area in the same way as mentioned in the referenced article. My not the best landline company no longer issues county wide residential listings. Instead, we get "community" listings. But those aren't based on consecutive zip codes, which don't mean 11000 is next to 11001 necessarily. Instead, my "community listings" book is done along racial and economic lines, according to the US Census Bureau (at least that's what the company told me).

Therefore, I don't get the listings for the town that begins three houses away but I do get listings for a town that is ten miles from my house and I only drove thru once when I got off the wrong exit on the parkway.

Postcode snobbery is probably a development of the place-name snobbery that has always existed in England. Before the introduction of postcodes, place-name snobbery could cause problems. I heard of a guy several decades ago who bought a house in north-west London and naturally used the address he had learned from the previous occupier. This ended with "Kenton, Middlesex". He wondered why most of his mail seemed to take several days to reach him: eventually his postman enlightened him by saying "Look, mate, this ain't Kenton, it's bleedin' Wembley!" Obviously, for the previous occupier, the slightly superior cachet of Kenton outweighed the inconvenience of waiting a few days for a redirected cheque to arrive in the mail.

Even so, it's inevitable that some areas will be "gentrified" and others will become less desirable. I wonder how long it will take for postcode snobbery to reflect these trends. When I first came to know London, an address in E14 would have suggested a shabby terrace or a run-down council estate (social housing project) in Limehouse or Poplar. Today it will probably prove to be a luxurious new penthouse in the neighbourhood of Canary Wharf. So is E14 a "good" or a "bad" address?

I think it's become just oh-so-classy, though it may include a few run down bits. If I'm correctly informed Canary Wharf now figures as a dark blue property on some British versions of Monopoly.

Wasn't that the whole point behind "Beverly Hills 90210"?

The post code for Terrick Terrick in Victoria , Australia is 3573, but if you read it upside down it ends up going ELSE where.

My neighbours and I are waiting with bated breath to learn whether some land on the main road about a quarter of a mile away and on the edge of our postcode area has been acquired by Morrisons or Waitrose. My glass-is-half-empty brain lobes tell me that it will be Morrisons but my glass-is-half-full lobes are hoping for Waitrose - Morrisons won't do any harm but a Waitrose supermarket in the same postcode could add £75,000 to the price of our houses.

Good grief Flopsy, that is a hell of a difference in price. My nearest supermarket is Waitrose, a mile and a half up the road. We have three Waitrose shops in our 45 square miles, and six Marks and Spencer branches if you include the Simply Food stores of which there are three, then the main branch also sells food. M&S closed their foodhall in the branch nearest me when Waitrose took over the large supermarket opposite them.

Golly gosh Flopsy! How unbelievably common to have a supermarket in one's neighbourhood, that really is beyond the pale. Standards are certainly slipping nowadays. What on earth is wrong with having one's groceries delivered. (Although I do prefer the term 'provisions', I thought your provincial frame of mind wouldn't quite grasp the true meaning). Fortunately our location is totally devoid of supermarkets and the common people that frequent such places. Admittedly it does become difficult to maintain standards; why, only recently we had to persuade a new couple who moved in that their surname of Smith was quite unacceptable. It took several glasses of champers (Moët & Chandon Dom Perignon White Gold, of course) and a severe talking to by the vicar to change it to Smythe-Harrington. The Harrington part was an inspired addition by the choir master, the hyphen does add such a cachet to a name, doesn't it? Anyway, if you ever fancy moving to a supermarket free area, please do get in touch. (although you would have to change your name too)

Watership-Downs may be appropriate and acceptable Flopsy.

Thanks for the giggle.

Actually, and yes I do say that, my friend's daughter was getting married to a man whose surname was Smith so she made him have it changed by deed poll before the big day! They have a nice double-barrelled surname now, he is of Scots descent so he added his clan name in front of the Smith. Since he is a barrister I guess that he didn't mind having a posher name.