People who think local only when posting on the internet (a small rant)

Donoreo

It’s 2025, and the internet has been a global village for decades. Yet, scrolling through countless forums, social media groups, and community boards, you still see it: the baffling post that assumes everyone on the planet knows “Main Street” or “Common Town name”.

Honestly, how thoughtless can one be?

You’re on a device that connects you to billions of people across every continent, and your immediate thought is to refer to a street name that exists in literally thousands of towns worldwide. Or a city name shared by dozens of municipalities across multiple countries.

“Does anyone know if Main Street is open today?”

Which Main Street? The one in Toronto, Canada? The one in Wichita, Kansas? I know this is not too bad of a problem here, but honestly, Facebook is rampant with it. Also, the Muskoka Bulletin Board group has to be the worst one that I am in. People get all defensive as well in it when you ask which street, the one in Gravenhust, Bracebridge or Huntsville?

This isn’t about being pedantic; it’s about basic communication. When you post online, you’re not just talking to your neighbours. You’re talking to the world. A simple addition of a city, state/province, and country can transform a locally unintelligible query into a universally understood one.

Astyanax

How many "Muskoka"s are there in the world?

Avernar

Donoreo or “Common Town name”

If you don’t know Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! then I’m disappointed…

MichelR

I’ve been seeing that on upcoming shows posters. Sometimes, no city name.

Avernar

Let’s do a road trip from London to Copenhagen to Vienna to Paris!

px_eliezer_

Donoreo Honestly, how thoughtless can one be?

I agree with you 100 percent.

There MANY duplicate city names just in Canada.
https://www.canada-city.ca/duplicate-cities.php

A famous episode of “All in the Family” has Archie almost getting fired for having something shipped to London, England instead of London, Ontario.

It’s a question of self-awareness though.

For example, many non-thinking people don’t understand that during extreme rainstorms and/or towards twilight, the headlights (and tail lights) on their car are NOT only to help THEM see, but also to help OTHER drivers see THEM.

They notice the lights from other cars, without noticing that their own cars are dark….

(We don’t have mandatory running lights down here).

Small-town businesses are sometimes guilty of not providing their telephone area codes even in places which have multiple area codes, and where 10-digit dialing is mandatory.

Avernar

px_eliezer_ Small-town businesses are sometimes guilty of not providing their telephone area codes even in places which have multiple area codes, and where 10-digit dialing is mandatory.

To be fair, who actually calls anyone this day and age? 😋

px_eliezer_ (We don’t have mandatory running lights down here).

Down where? Love the irony of that statement. 😀

Sparkchaser

When someone from the UK tells you it’s on High street. It gets confusing.

"in the UK, “high street” refers to the main commercial street in a town or city, typically featuring a mix of shops, businesses, and public spaces. It’s the equivalent of “Main Street” in the US."_

Been there, been confused by it. 🙂

Avernar

Sparkchaser There’s only around 3000 High Streets and around another 2300 that are a variation of it in Britain. Figure it out! 😋

Donoreo

Sparkchaser When someone from the UK tells you it’s on High street. It gets confusing.

“in the UK, “high street” refers to the main commercial street in a town or city, typically featuring a mix of shops, businesses, and public spaces. It’s the equivalent of “Main Street” in the US.”_

And sometimes the “High Street” is not named High Street (but in most cases, it is), just to make it more confusing. People still call it the High Street.

Thane_Bitter

Donoreo The feels like the old global stereotype about all Canadians knowing each other.

Just roll with it, put a post about giving something away free, besure to provide the best ambiguous information you can and keep feeding them along till they give up. 😉

Dks01

Sparkchaser There are any number of High Streets in Canada. Many are main streets.

Dks01

Avernar Civilized people make phone calls. Not everyone has a smart phone or e-mail.

mrweather

Avernar Let’s do a road trip from London to Copenhagen to Vienna to Paris!

My son and his friends did this last summer as a day trip and called it their “European Tour”. They also visited Lisbon. They ended up in Berlin (Kitchener) for dinner. They took photos of the respective town/village/hamlet name signs.

Avernar

Dks01 Civilized people make phone calls. Not everyone has a smart phone or e-mail.

Whoosh! That was the joke flying over your head.

And civilized people talk in person. None of this newfangled phone stuff. 😋

Dks01

Avernar Humour is incredibly fragile on the interwebs and always has been.

Dks01

mrweather Did they pass through Punkydoodles Corners?
https://speakup.oxfordcounty.ca/punkeydoodles

Donoreo

Dks01 Civilized people make phone calls.

I will do anything to NOT make a phone call.

Dks01

Donoreo My preference is always a phone call first.