ucbesvax.turner@ucbcad.UUCP (07/31/83)
#N:ucbesvax:3700004:000:1406
ucbesvax!turner Jul 31 00:31:00 1983
Some abbreviations frequently used on the net:
FYI - for your information;
BTW - by the way.
Less frequently used but far more useful and accepted:
e.g. - for example;
i.e. - that is to say;
cf. - compare with;
N.B. - please note.
I went for months without knowing what FYI or BTW meant -- and got by quite
well, thank you, since it didn't take me long to realize that they contri-
buted little or nothing to meanings. Recently, BTW caused a large number of
submissions in response to a well-meaning question, and we all found out that
it didn't stand for "Bell Tewephone Wabowatowies".
That is a good indication that such forms ought not to be used, since they
seem to be causing more trouble than they ever save anyone except those
lazy people (yes!) who use them. When we have accumulated enough new
users, history could repeat itself, as it often does on this more-or-less
memoryless channel. (E.g., my "{...}" boo-boo in net.lang.c.)
I beg of you: from now on, use the full spelling of FYI or BTW, or simply
drop them. Parentheses often imply BTW, and are not significantly harder
to type, although they create some punctuation problems for some people.
And FYI is implied simply by the fact of the note being posted.
Michael Turner
ucbvax!esvax.turner
P.S. LMMOTPC stands for "Let Me Make One Thing Perfectly Clear", an
infuriating device for getting you to read this far.