It’s ‘Washington, D.C.’ not ‘Washington D.C.’
27 Mar
Every now and then, I’ll see someone write something like: “In Washington D.C., I saw…”. Yet, that sentence is grammatically incorrect. Whenever you refer to Washington, D.C., you need the comma in between the Washington and the D.C. It’s just like saying “San Francisco, CA” or “London, UK”. But, you may say, isn’t the full name of the nation’s capitol “Washington D.C.”? Not really.
Back in the day, Washington, D.C. originally comprised land given up by the States of Maryland and Virginia. Within it, the district was split into five distinct entities: Washington County, Alexandria County, the City of Alexandria (Alexandria, D.C.), the City of Georgetown (Georgetown, D.C.), and the City of Washington (Washington, D.C.). The last one is where you have all the important federal buildings, such as the Capitol, the White House, and the Supreme Court.
Over time, though, things changed. Virginia took back its land in 1846, leaving just the County of Washington, Georgetown, and Washington City. At this time, the County of Washington was still very much rural, and some of the richer Congressman even owned country estates there. But then the Civil War came along, and that expanded the role of the federal government. New bureaucracies sprung up, and those institutions expanded outside of the City of Washington and into the County of Washington. You also had more commerce before than in the past due to the large concentration of Union troops defending the city.
As the nature of the district changed, so too did the boundaries and in 1871, the federal government decided to extend the City of Washington to encompass the entire district. So even though Washington and D.C. are really one in the same today, you still write it as Washington, D.C.
So happy to see someone else get as cranked about this as I do. Though I typically tend to just default to DC. When I go elsewhere, I don’t proclaim, “I’m visiting San Francisco, California!” or “I’m in lovely Cleveland, Ohio!” As saying, “I live in Washington,” indicates that perhaps I live far West, I’m partial to just saying “D.C.” “District of Columbia” covers it all!
I admit I am one of those who forgets the comma inbetween Washington and D.C. I never knew the history behind the District of Columbia. It’s extremely fascinating and you can bet I will not be making that mistake again!
This post seems sort of silly. For years, I’ve not used commas between the city and the state (or between “Washington” and “DC”) because the US Postal Service, when they converted to two-letter state designations, prescribed the convention of NOT using commas:
http://www.usps.com/send/preparemailandpackages/labelsandaddressing/usingthecorrectaddress.htm
So, if you’re not using the USPS’s two-letter abbreviation for the state, then I understand insisting on the comma. But if you are, then it seems okay to skip the comma.