this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2023
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No Stupid Questions

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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

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[–] [email protected] 120 points 1 year ago (82 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] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (17 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?

[–] Rouxibeau 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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

[–] edgemaster72 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For instance, if you want to text someone "I have an appointment with the Dr. at 11 on Tuesday". Depending on the dr's name it might be more to type than someone cares to, especially if it isn't the most pertinent piece of information.

[–] Rouxibeau 3 points 1 year ago

If you are gonna put Dr then odds are you'll follow with @ and it's a non-issue.

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

Because, as you probably just noticed, it's sometimes part of a sentence, used without the name. Maybe I'm texting "Dr says it's not a tumor, I'm pregnant" or something.

In addition, Dr (w/ or w/o .) sometimes means Drive, and USPS sorting machines prefer no dots, so that might also drive autotype to choose dotless, or at least offer it.

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