Jun 18 2008
Two Stupid Acronyms Writers Need to Know: i.e. and e.g.
I recently ranted about acronyms. One of my problems with a great many acronyms is that they are unnecessary. Here are two:
i.e. = the acronym for “id est.” It is short for “that is.”
Peter is going to be playing in the best club in town, i.e., The Bomb.
e.g. = the acronym for “exempli gratia.” It means “for example.”
Sally hates playing all card games (e.g., poker, rook, bridge, solitaire).
When I say these acronyms are unnecessary, I think I’m justified. I mean, are you really saving that much time and effort by typing “i.e.” rather than just rapping out “that is”? By the time you figure out whether it should be “i.e.” or “e.g.” and put the periods in, I think not. Same with “e.g.” And yet we seem to be determined to reduce our beautiful language to a midden of word fragments. If this trend continues we’ll be SOL.
Another problem with these two pretentious diminutives is that they are often not understood by the reader, and even more often, are misused by the writer. The writer’s thought process seems to go something like this: “I think I’ll throw in an ‘i.e.’ or ‘e.g.’ here in order to demonstrate my intelligence. But which one should I use? Hmmm. Well, it doesn’t really matter. They’re interchangeable, right?”
Wrong. And so, the hapless writer goes about showing his erudition by writing “for example” instead of “that is,” and vice versa.
If you have to use these acronyms, how can you remember which is which? Try this: simply look at “e.g.” and sound it out. Sounds like “egg,” right? From “egg,” it’s a short step to “example” and then on to “for example.” By default, the “i.e.” must be the other one: “that is.” (By the way, I could have used “i.e.” in place of the colon in the preceding sentence, but that would have really complicated things. I could also have used the acronym “BTW” instead of “by the way,” but then you would have had the right to hunt me down and shoot me.
Or we could avoid all this foolishness, do our readers a favor, and spell out the phrases.
You are so right.
Steve,
You write: And yet we seem to be determined to reduce our beautiful language to a midden of word fragments.
Magic! And how often does a writer get a chance to use the word ‘midden’ both evocatively and appropriately.
Gyppo ( From mywriterscircle.com )
Games Play Pogo Games Play Basketball Games…
I didn’t agree with you first, but last paragraph makes sense for me…
[...] 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 [...]