From owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Sep 12 20:07:37 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2C57E16A4D3 for ; Sun, 12 Sep 2004 20:07:37 +0000 (GMT) Received: from nic.ach.sch.gr (nic.sch.gr [194.63.238.4]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0D9F643D48 for ; Sun, 12 Sep 2004 20:07:36 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from keramida@freebsd.org) Received: (qmail 16807 invoked by uid 207); 12 Sep 2004 20:07:34 -0000 Received: from keramida@freebsd.org by nic by uid 201 with qmail-scanner-1.21 (sophie: 3.04/2.19/3.81. Clear:RC:1(81.186.70.47):. Processed in 8.39212 secs); 12 Sep 2004 20:07:34 -0000 Received: from dialup47.ach.sch.gr (HELO gothmog.gr) ([81.186.70.47]) (envelope-sender ) by nic.sch.gr (qmail-ldap-1.03) with DES-CBC3-SHA encrypted SMTP for ; 12 Sep 2004 20:07:24 -0000 Received: from gothmog.gr (gothmog [127.0.0.1]) by gothmog.gr (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id i8CIEPkm001701; Sun, 12 Sep 2004 21:14:25 +0300 (EEST) (envelope-from keramida@freebsd.org) Received: (from giorgos@localhost) by gothmog.gr (8.13.1/8.13.1/Submit) id i8CIEPnu001700; Sun, 12 Sep 2004 21:14:25 +0300 (EEST) (envelope-from keramida@freebsd.org) Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 21:14:25 +0300 From: Giorgos Keramidas To: John Baldwin , Ceri Davies Message-ID: <20040912181425.GC1047@gothmog.gr> References: <20040908201737.GG44674@submonkey.net> <20040908182322.L1034@wonkity.com> <20040909075121.GJ44674@submonkey.net> <200409091047.25148.jhb@FreeBSD.org> <20040910081323.GB2296@straylight.m.ringlet.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20040910081323.GB2296@straylight.m.ringlet.net> Phone: +30-2610-312145 Mobile: +30-6944-116520 cc: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: i.e. vs. e.g. X-BeenThere: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Documentation project List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 20:07:37 -0000 On 2004-09-10 11:13, Peter Pentchev wrote: > > 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. > > I have a gut feeling that pretty much all languages probably have > "predefined", often-used contractions for "that is" and "for example"; > I can certainly vouch for Bulgarian and Russian. Same for Greek. We have at least 3 similar "well-known" contractions; one of them is used as a substitute of both `i.e.' and `e.g.'. I don't think that we should avoid altogether the use of i.e./e.g. Adding a note to the FDP Primer, with the excellent explanation of their different meaning that Ceri posted earlier on this thread, is definitely a good idea though. Just my $0.02, Giorgos