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)
[–] sarchar 32 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 (1 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.

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

Oh, really!? That's a good one for me to learn! (Spouse is a quad who uses a lot of computer A11y aids)

[–] [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 (2 children)

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

F3d i0t f1r y1u.

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

You'll be a hero at work when your coworkers see how efficient your commit messages have become.

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

Clearly the next step in evolution will be this...

Y77e.

The information you see is only the identifier and metadata, the main content will be transferred directly via the neural transceiver.

[–] [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)

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