Driving around New York City on I-287 in Westchester County, the signs used to say
No White Plains
for North White Plains. See, for example, this picture from this webpage.
They've recently replaced these signs with ones that say "North White Plains", probably because they confused tourists.
You also see signs "No Brunswick" and "So Brunswick" for North Brunswick and South Brunswick in New Jersey, southeast of NYC.
My understanding was that N. and S. were the standard abbreviations for "North" and "South". Where are "No." and "So." used? Is it just New York City and its suburbs, or is the usage more widespread than that?
Best Answer
In American English, No is a "standard abbreviation" for North.
For instance, see American Heritage Dictionary, which gives the two-letter abbreviation with a period (No. or no.)
In Arkansas the state capital (Little Rock) is contiguous to the city to the north called North Little Rock, and this latter is often abbreviated No Little Rock on street signs and addresses.
For example, see Snagajob and remember that in this context No Little Rock jobs doesn't mean there are no jobs in Little Rock; it's referring to jobs in North Little Rock.
And Google understands No St Paul High School to refer to the high school in North Saint Paul, Minnesota.
The phone number 308-526-xxxx is located in NO PLATTE, Nebraska. (NPNR) That's North Platte, Nebraska.
I think the use of No (or No.) in such contexts is because a two character abbreviation is a bit longer and easier to read or harder to confuse, especially in hand writing, but I'm not sure.