Shamu: 鱼眼看美国,以及中国

Having spent a considerable time here in East Asia, I have become very used to the "Asian" order of things and find myself very comfortable with that order, more comfortable than with the "Western" order. And this also includes dates. Having said that, there is still some variety here; for instance, in Vietnam, even though they have the same name order, that is surname then generation name, then given name, they seat or sort names by given name rather than surname (at least this was the normal procedure when I was there). I was told this was because they had too few different surnames to sort with.

I'm not sure what the origin of the address system (used in the US) has to do with it. I just meant that historically speaking the vast majority of mail is local. For example, probably 99% of the mail sent in California is sent within the US. Probably 80% of that mail is sent within California. Probably 60% of that mail is sent within the same city. You see my point. (and this is true of all mail everywhere, not just the US)

So when you look at it this way, it makes sense to start with the individual and move "outward." I'm guessing that is the whole reason people started writing addresses this way. Why start with the country when 99% of the time you know it will be within the country? Why is the state next when 80% of the time you know it will be within the same state?

In other words, you put country last because that is the least likely to change -- it is the outlier, the exception. And so on down the line.

If I were sending mail within my office building would it make sense to start each "office address" with the name of the building? I think most people would think that is unnecessary.

Anyway, I'm not defending this style of addressing. ;) I just think it does have some rational basis. (so does the other style).

You could say the two address systems are different way of modeling the same data. In the Chinese system, you definitely have a parent/child relationship chain. In the US system, you have an "object is located here" chain.

This would be an indicator of cultural differences, but not in the sense of some pschological or philosphical sense, but in the evolutionary development of identifying the recipient of mail. I do not know the history of how address were formed in either the East or West, but I would not be surprised if the Chinese model had antecedents clear back to the Sui-Tang period, if not at least to Qin Shi huangdi. With a well ordered state, the thinking process would have been rational and orderly. In the West, on the other hand, with the collapse of the Western Roman state and the near universal illiteracy that came quickly afterwords, I can imagine where one would address Friar Tuck as the guy at the third tree, past the brook as you enter Sherwood Forest from the South, near Nottingham. In an organized society one can begin with the general and move to the specific; but in a disorganized society one needs to identify the specific first, then move to the more general. The American system of identifying dates baffles me, though. Why begin with the month, then add the day, and wrap up with the year. It almost appears as if the year is an after thought.

托的：
I see your point.

jfs:
The Vietnam case is interesting. Thanks for sharing with me.
Another good point. By now we've beaten this topic to death. :)

I like those differences between China and Western country. When I am going to send a letter to foreign country, I feel it is quiet interesting to reverse the address order. When I write my English name on somewhere, I feel the same. Why don’t enjoy those differences between your hometown and the new world. If every place were same, it might be dull. Name and address order are not big things. Actually it is just custom or personal feeling, nothing related to right or wrong. Like “Wendy”, for you, it reminds you someone you don’t like, for me, it’s a beautiful name, because it belongs to a beautiful lady I met. We are different individual, have different character and different experience. So we have something to talk, to share, and to exchange, it brings us lots of fun. Don’t you think so?

Wendy, of course, but I also want to find out the logic behind the things that we take for granted. To me, that's also part of the fun. Thanks for sharing your perspective here.

Oh, miss one sentence.

"So do countries."--Before the last sentence.

看你的文章，很令人振奋！！！I am so proud of to be a Chinese!!!!

Juju:
Welcome to my blog. I didn't expect to inspire anybody with my writing. But I'm glad you felt so. :)
More articles like this to come. Stay tuned. :)

Shamu: Nice blog you have here, just found it through your comment at zaimeiguo. Did you live in Austin, Tx at one point?

JFS: I was told that the US date format came about because Britain uses the order day, month, year and during the war of independence, the US changed the order so it will be different from the British date format.

Actually the US way does make some sense. Most of the wider area information (i.e. state, county, city) is sorted by machine, so it is really not relevant to anyone. Then the postman only needs to look at the second line for the street information, and the customer (the one receiving the mail) only needs to look at the first name, which is the first thing written on the address, to sort the mail up between the members of the house, thus making it as easy as possible for the customer.

Well, your point is taken. I guess my point is at time of sorting, one cannot sort by the first letter of an address, or a name.
BTW, I enjoyed reading your blog. Hope to see it updated more often. :)

Even though we say our given names first and family names second in the West, when we file/sort names, we use the Chinese order...Smith John, Kerrison Robert..or whatever. So, that isn't actually a problem like you suggested.