Writer’s Acronym’s: i.e. and e.g.,
Despite what Steve Osborne says on his blog, the Writer’s Bag, I’m rather fond of i.e. and e.g., having learned their usage well over 15 years ago in school (being one of those people who actually picks up a dictionary once in a while it’s not that hard to discover what id est and expempli gratia mean.) Further, while it’s true that the abbreviations do nothing to enhance our language, the correct use of the original Latin phrases does in some small way breath life in the dusty corners of history from which our language originated.
Steve calls it pretension, but I think it appropriate to spend a little time remembering where we came from and where we’re going. As George Santayana said:
“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.“
Besides, I’m sure that most will agree that the use of the latin-based acronyms goes much better in the legal profession where Latin terms are bandied about with great frequency, like stare decisis, amicus curiae, and judgement non obstante veredicto. (Thanks to the ‘electric law library, for their wealth of obscure, legal latin phrases.)
Speaking of Pretension, I enjoy that word also and it always reminds me of despair.com and their demotivators.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
i.e. and e.g. will fade from the language only when people get used to abbreviating their replacements; I do see frex for “for example”, but that’s still very colloquial.
I agree that it’s the little ties to history that remind us that we’re not the first generation to wander this earth.