@b541bfe5 Ah. Well, with luck it will go the same way that the former trend of using postal codes went. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I understand that secret names are a great way to build social identity solidarity within an in-group. 

 @2827a0a2 The big one in #yeg used to be using our area code of 780, when Alberta was first split into two area codes (403 used to be for the entire Province, then became southern Alberta after the split). Now we have 5 area codes, but only 3 which are commonly used (those two, plus 587 which is not as regional). We even have businesses in Edmonton named 780-something, lol. 

 @2827a0a2

Interestingly, the oldest settler community in #Alberta, located at the NW edge of #yeg, ended up hashtagging themselves as #T8N, which is their postcode.

Why? Likely because #stalbert (St. Albert) looks a *bit* too stabby at a quick glance. 

😀

 @b541bfe5 

 @b541bfe5 @2827a0a2 The airport code "PDX" has been shorthand for Portland since the 1980s, so the birdsite, and texting, had nothing to do with it. 

 @1c58d112 @2827a0a2 

Ah yes, even from up here in Canada I easily recognize the PDX/Portland shorthand. 

 @b541bfe5 @2827a0a2 And I learned about "YYZ" from Rush. That came out in like 1981. Maybe we'll give Rush credit. 

 @1c58d112 @2827a0a2 

Rush deserves credit for a lot more than they get.  :D 

 @b541bfe5 @2827a0a2 8 out of the 13 international airports in Canada seem to have 1 to 2 letters from the location initials/name in them so it's not TOTALLY random: YYC, YEG, YFC, YHZ, YOW, YQB, YVR, YWG for Calgary, Edmonton, Fredericton, Halifax, Ottawa, Quebec City, Vancouver, Winnipeg. 

 @c09eb2e8 @2827a0a2 

Mostly random is far more irksome than all random, tbh.  :D 

 @b541bfe5 @2827a0a2 sorta like how it's almost better to have no wifi than extremely unreliable hitchy wifi 

 @b541bfe5 @2827a0a2 
If you care talking about the full code all Canadian airports start with C CYYC. The Y prefix signifies that the airport is co-located with a weather station and the last letters were the Morse Code identifiers from the railway days for the city... 
But yes for twitter it was a short identifier for the city...  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IATA_airport_code 

 @3a59cd17 @2827a0a2 

Very interesting! 

 @b541bfe5 @2827a0a2 Yes. So it isn’t random but Canada went with a fundamentally different naming scheme than just trying to shorten the city name to a code. We just adopted a existing naming scheme 

 @b541bfe5 @2827a0a2 

Historically, Canadian airports had 2 letter call signs, then added a Y prefix if the airport had a weather station, and a W if it didn't, so pilots would know how much weather information they could expect when planning a landing.  Basically any major airport had a weather station, the Ws were just lonely little airfields.

When the IATA mandated 3 letter calls signs, that format was already in place.