For example, that is

The other day I received an article back from an editor with “e.g.” replaced with “for example” and “i.e.” replaced with “that is”.  I find it sad that we can no longer assume people know what those abbreviations mean (even if they are abbreviations of Latin words).  Our society is acronym and abbreviation crazy.  I mean, for crying out loud, we even mock ourselves for it (e.g., TLA).

Most of what I write is for technical professionals.  Is it unreasonable to expect educated professionals to understand the two most common abbreviations in written English?

In case you don’t know the origins:

“i.e.” is short for “id est”, which is Latin for “that is”.

“e.g.” is short for “exempli gratia”, which translates as “for the sake of example”.  A lot of people remember “e.g.” as “example given”.

(See also:  e.g. vs. i.e. on Wikipedia)

Oh, and BTW, if u can txt msg, u can read anything, IMHO.  šŸ™‚

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