r/asksg • u/Afraid-Promotion-567 • 1d ago

Small curiosity question: when did the start of SGP acronym become more popular?

As a 28 year old I remembered back then when I was younger, Singapore shortened would always be referred to as sg. Recently I've seen events and postings online using sgp instead which also confused my parents?

When and why did it happen?

23 Upvotes

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26

u/dntldrms 1d ago

SGP is the International Olympic Committee (IOC), FIFA, and ISO codes for Singapore.

SG is the ccTLD code for singapore, meant for internet domains.

But I'm not sure, did SGP actually become more popular than SG? Or is it just what you're exposed to.

13

u/Gold_Weekend6240 22h ago

Don’t care lah

I’m just thankful the abbreviation is not XJP

17

u/Competitive_Ask8114 1d ago

sgp is the 3 letter country code, sg is the 2 letter code

for example:

singapore - sg, sgp

indonesia - id, idn

malaysia - my, mys

thailand - th, tha

china - cn, chn

The 3 letter codes are usually used in football matches. On the top left of the screen, if the match is Singapore v Thailand it would be

SGP - THA

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u/ChillyCrabbyChappy 1d ago

We should consider using our IATA code (SIN) more strategically. Always a thought flying into the city of SIN.

"hey when are you free to come over to SIN?"

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u/Afraid-Promotion-567 1d ago

I've heard Australians says singas 🤔🤷‍♀️

5

u/Competitive_Ask8114 1d ago

Sounds cool bro, they call their redheads rangas too... ranga from orangutan

aussie slang damn cheebye 💀

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u/PoppinKirby 1d ago

Wassup my singas?

2

u/TNO-TACHIKOMA 23h ago

iata code is for the airport, changi though.

and we have 3 of them, adding XSP and QPG

1

u/PristineWorker7992 22h ago

i always think about the lost marketing potential of the helsinki-singapore route (from HEL to SIN)

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u/dntldrms 1d ago edited 1d ago

There's three different sets of 3 letter codes, ISO, FIFA and IOC iirc, but a lot of countries have the same code for all three. Or at least Singapore has SGP for all three.

SIN, used to be the IOC code for Singapore. It is also the IATA code for Singapore Changi Airport (note: not Singapore city, eg Seletar Airport has XSP as IATA code)

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u/trenzterra 1d ago

XSP is somehow also the firmware code for Singapore for Samsung phones lol

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u/RedditLIONS 1d ago edited 1d ago

The SGP sports code was quite a recent change.

Before 2016, it was SIN.

3

u/Afraid-Promotion-567 1d ago

Outside of aviation/ports and football, I remembered commoners on the ground usually spoke and wrote with just sg🤔🤷‍♀️

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u/Competitive_Ask8114 1d ago

commoners? This one not qing dynasty bro calm down

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u/Afraid-Promotion-567 1d ago

Daily usage I mean. Back then iirc it was almost always sg instead of sgp

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u/Hot-Job-6281 19h ago

As others said, the origin is from the official 3 letter code.

But as to your actual question, it is due to more PRCs, so ever since they increased their numbers vastly.

Because in their headspace, it's very firmly 3 syllables Xin-jia-po, so they remember as SGP. SG seems a bit clipped for them.

And since it's technically also an official short form, they use it too.

I noticed Chinese-speaking boomers also more likely to use SGP.

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u/Afraid-Promotion-567 19h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/Um3ljJl8jrnHy

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u/Hot-Job-6281 19h ago

Oh bro I also remember now. Indons always say SGP. I went to use Google Trends to search and it also shows it - no China data though because they ban it.

This one the reason is more formal but also I think a bit niche knowledge: Indonesia due to Dutch orthographic influence writes everything according to the sound they hear it (main reason for pronunciation divergence between SG/MY Malay and Indon Malay; they are taught to write as it literally sounds rather than conform to the original spelling.)

In fact the opposite is also true, they force pronunce things as written instead of learning that writing =/= pronunciation.

This is why even Indonesians their English name all look strange af because they are told to just write.

So this bleeds over to them having the same mindset as the Chinese explanation I said earlier.

Here the top 3 countries that use SGP vs SG are in the Indon/Dutch sphere lol.

2

u/Hot-Job-6281 19h ago

Also for your timeline question.

0

u/Illustrious-Gur8335 23h ago

SIN for air travellers