Does Doing Genealogy in Hard Copy Make a Difference re Abbreviation in Locations?

IMHO, yes. Most people use forms from a genealogical source such as Ancestry.com. You have the space allotted. It’s not ‘expandable’ as a genealogy database entry making abbreviations a necessity on some forms.
On Thursdays, I volunteer at the Nichols Memorial Library, the home of the NorthEast Alabama Genealogical Society (NEAGS).  We have family files available for research. Researchers may ask for copies for a small fee of relevant files.

Yesterday a gentleman was so excited — he had found several pedigree charts with great possibilities. As I made the copies for him I realized that each county in the pedigree chart was entered with the abbreviation “Co.” & each state with the two-character abbreviation as in AL.

In a hand-written pedigree chart there simply is not room to enter Shelby County, Alabama, USA. Notice that there are two “Place” locations shown for each person on the chart.
Imagine how crowded the chart would be if every place was listed. Wouldn’t it be cleaner to see Shelby Co., AL?
Keep in mind also that not all counties and states are “short”.
For example:

Jefferson County, Mississippi, USA       or
Jefferson Co., MS

Be Consistent!

Don’t use Co. part of the time and Cty. another?

Recommended:   Co.