this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2023
233 points (95.0% liked)

No Stupid Questions

35700 readers
4133 users here now

No such thing. Ask away!

!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.

All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.



Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.

On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.

If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.



Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.

If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.



Credits

Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!

The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Hi, English isn't my mother tongue so I was asking myself that question since I first encounted a w/... Back then I was like: "What tf does 'w slash' stand for?" And when I found out I was like "How, why, and is it any intuitive?" But I never dared to ask that until now

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 120 points 1 year ago (25 children)

All in all, the / is just one style of abbreviation used in English. It's not only used for "with", but also a few other words (w/o = without, N/A = not applicable).

In German we abbreviate using a dot (e.g. "m." = "mit" = "with). That's not more or less intuitive, it's just what you are used to.

What's kinda special with English is that there are multiple abbreviation styles. Off the top of my head I can think of six styles:

  • Abbreviate random parts of words using a slash: "N/A", "w/", "w/o"
  • Abbreviate keeping only the first letter of a word using a dot: "e.g."
  • Abbreviate keeping the first and some random later consonants (and sometimes consonants that aren't in the word at all) without using punctuation: Dr, Mr, Ms, Mrs
  • Abbreviate using acronyms and no punctuation: BBC
  • Abbreviate using acronyms and dots: B.C.
  • Abbreviate by substituting parts of the word with a single letter: Xmas (Christmas), Xing (Crossing)
[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I'm used to Dr., Mr., Mrs. all needing the dot.

I'd also add the medical ones which all use x, and most use the first letter of the word, but not all, so it's kinda point 3, kinda not:

  • Prescription: rx
  • Symptoms: sx
  • Diagnosis: dx
  • History: hx
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I learned similar shorthand from an accountant, who wrote transfer (money transfer between accounts) as tx.

Also, it used to be obligatory to put the dot on Mr., Mrs., Dr., etc. I'm old, I remember how it was taught. And we called those dots "periods". I haven't been in school in decades, but I've been noticing those dots disappearing.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Both are possible: Dr and Dr.

Never heard of the x version. Very interresting.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Prescription: rx

I work in radio electronics and RX is receive. TX is transmit.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (8 children)

In programmer lingo we'll sometimes shorten words with the number of letters in between:

i18n (internationalization) and L10n (localization). I just learned of g11n (globalization), too.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wait until you learn about k8s

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This one is terrible IMO. A11y is ironically very inaccessible unless you’re aware of this unintuitive system.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Now that I know it though, it's a good way to distinguish between similar common abbreviations. For instance I know you don't mean "Actually" even though I'm not sure what you do mean by A11y.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Also k8s for Kubernetes.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

True, forgot about that one. I really hat this style of abbreviation^^

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

T2e, f4t a3t t2t o1e. I r4y h2e t2s s3e o0f a10n^^

F3d i0t f1r y1u.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Wait. That is why it's called i18n!? Never knew that.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

r13y (reproducibility)

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Dr., Mrs., Ms. etc. are traditionally abbreviated with periods/dots but it does raise issues typing on one's phone because autocorrect thinks it's the end of a sentence, so sans dots is becoming more common. And there's other examples which have never had dots, like nvm and af

X is a little special, it stands for Cross and therefore also for Christ. When illiterate medieval people had to sign documents they were told to make the sign of the Cross, since they were usually swearing

Edit: anyone else always pronounce PED XING as pedexing instead of pedestrian crossing?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Using the period with titles is standard in the US and leaving out the period is standard in the UK.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

As a non-Christian, I never made that Xmas connection. It sounds cool, but I was never sure why anyone started calling that (and evidently never curious enough to go looking for an answer or even really ask, I just kinda took it as one of those things that is how it is because people are going to people).

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Oddly enough, people who didn't know that part of the history got angry "they took Christ out of Christmas!" So then people who liked the holiday but not the religion used it to do exactly that. As you say, people people.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As a non-Christian, I never made that Xmas connection.

Well, as a Christian, I wouldn't feel bad about it because the poster is not correct. The X in Xmas does not stand for a cross, it comes from the Greek spelling of Christ which is Χριστός. The chi-rho symbol (☧) is an imposition of the first two letters (Χ and ρ) and is still commonly used to refer to Christ in some denominations.

As a bonus: if you've ever wondered (or not wondered) why some Christian symbolism uses a fish, ἸΧΘΥΣ (or ICTHYS) is an acronym for Ἰησοῦς Χρῑστός Θεοῦ Υἱός Σωτήρ, "which translates into English as 'Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior'." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthys) This has been used since the first century.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (4 children)

if you've ever wondered (or not wondered) why some Christian symbolism uses a fish, ἸΧΘΥΣ (or ICTHYS) is an acronym for Ἰησοῦς Χρῑστός Θεοῦ Υἱός Σωτήρ

And that presumably is drawn as a fish in some language?

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (5 children)

When you type Dr., et al., you normally follow it with a proper noun. Why is the auto caps an issue?

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Both Dr and Dr. are possible.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Edit: anyone else always pronounce PED XING as pedexing instead of pedestrian crossing?

Yes, that's how I pronounce it.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

don't forget using contractions on single words, like cont'd, pop'n (sometimes written pop^n^)

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don’t forget re: which means regarding or in reference to, not reply.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

... I think it's actually a Latin word, "re,", meaning, "the matter (subject)" not an abbreviation at all.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

yeah this is a real pet peeve of mine.

In German many people, web mailers and also sometimes even email software use "AW:" (short for AntWort) instead of "Re:" and then some of them don't even recognize the existence of a previous "AW:" or "Re:" giving you such wondrous email subjects as: "AW: Re: AW: Re: AW: AW: Re: AW: Re: really important subject" 🤦

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Oh, that totally works with a single language too: "Re: Re: Re:..." or "AW: AW: AW:..." seen both of that often enough.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

don't forget x in medical settings. eg, dx is diagnose, tx is treatment, etc

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Abbreviate keeping the first and some random later consonants (and sometimes consonants that aren't in the word at all) without using punctuation: Dr, Mr, Ms, Mrs

I think it's usually the first letter(s) and the last letter(s). In older English handwritings I've come across M.ʳ etc. So I think that's were those came from.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In the Speedwriting shorthand system, developed in 1924 for use with typewriter, / Is used to denote omitted sylables, so 'with' becomes w/ and 'without' becomes w/o. Here is a pretty deep guide on the precepts of Speedwriting:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Classic_Speedwriting/wiki/list108/

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

But shouldn't "w/o" then be written as "w/o/"?

And "N/A" omits more than one sylable in "applicable".

I guess it's a grown system.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Abbreviate using the first and then any choice of following letter that differentiates it from the other possibilities in a specific group: AL, AR, AK, AZ... MA, ME, MD, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT.... WA, WI, WV, WY!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well tbf those are post codes designed by the postal service to represent states. I wouldn't really count it as a naturally developed abbreviation like the ones above, it's no different from .fr, .es, .co.uk, etc.

The abbreviations for states used before the two-letter ones, however, are much weirder! E.g. Penna. for Pennsylvania

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Bonus points for one of your examples being e.g. which stands for exempli gratia, translating to "for example"

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (16 replies)