Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2004 10:47:24 -0400 From: John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> To: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org Cc: doc@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: i.e. vs. e.g. Message-ID: <200409091047.25148.jhb@FreeBSD.org> In-Reply-To: <20040909075121.GJ44674@submonkey.net> References: <20040908201737.GG44674@submonkey.net> <20040908182322.L1034@wonkity.com> <20040909075121.GJ44674@submonkey.net>
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On Thursday 09 September 2004 03:51 am, Ceri Davies wrote: > On Wed, Sep 08, 2004 at 06:27:13PM -0600, Warren Block wrote: > > On Wed, 8 Sep 2004, Ceri Davies wrote: > > >Apologies in advance for coming over all schoolmaster like, but I've > > >noticed a few instances where I believe that people are confusing the > > >terms "i.e." and "e.g.", and so here's a little reminder/summary: > > > > > > i.e. can be read as "that is to say". > > > > > > e.g. can be read as "for example". > > > > The FDP says to avoid contractions. Maybe these should be avoided in > > the same way. > > I think that would be overkill, and if we stopped doing things that we > did wrong occasionally then there wouldn't be much of FreeBSD left ;-) > > I was "just saying" really. The reason for avoiding contractions though is to avoid confusing non-native readers, and I think that that's a good argument for spelling out i.e. as "that is", and e.g. as "for example" as well unless this type of idiom is common to more than just English. -- John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> <>< http://www.FreeBSD.org/~jhb/ "Power Users Use the Power to Serve" = http://www.FreeBSD.org
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