How do you read it?

H

huugh

Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
1,772
How do you (native English speakers) read e.g., i.e. (there may be other similar abbreviations, I'm not native speaker so if you know such, please let me know) in continuous text?
Do you
  • spell it
  • read as "for example"/"that is"
  • read as "exempli gratia"/"id est"

Also, do you spell A.D., B.C. or say "Anno Domini", "Before Christ"?
 
If I happen to use these, It's is never in conversation--only when I write.

That said, I have learned the 'short' (Possibly incorrect?) versions are:

i.e.: Intended Example
e.g.: Example Given

A.D.: I never use this term. If the date is noted and not stating it's B.C., then it infers A.D. without needing to say it.

That's me. Educate me further.... :)

Coop
 
As far as I know average english speaker would say:
huugh said:
"for example"/"that is"
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Sometimes e.ġ is also translated as "example given"

while
read as "exempli gratia"/"id est"
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would be OK but a bit pedantic.

Also, do you spell A.D., B.C. or say "Anno Domini", "Before Christ"?
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Same here.

Those latin abbreviations are found in many other languages by the way.(with the same kind of "translation")
 
I pronounce the letter name in all those cases: E-G, I-E, A-D, B-C. I have a background in Latin, and if I do pronounce the original words, it can confuse people, since I use the original pronunciation, and in the US at least, most people heavily anglicize the sound of the Latin words.

Two increasingly common replacements for AD and BC are CE and BCE -- Common Era and Before the Common Era, these being more appropriate for the non-Christian or secular.

Two other common abbreviations from Latin are AM and PM from ante meridiem and post meridiem, before and after midday. Everyone I've ever heard also spells these out as two-letter terms.
 
read as "exempli gratia"/"id est" would be OK but a bit pedantic.
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Exactly. In fact, the whole idea of using Latin, abbreviations or words, is a bit pedantic, sort of like using kanji in Japanese, when the language is perfectly capable of expressing the concepts simply and clearly with its own resources.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Exactly. In fact, the whole idea of using Latin, abbreviations or words, is a bit pedantic, sort of like using kanji in Japanese, when the language is perfectly capable of expressing the concepts simply and clearly with its own resources.
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You're so pedantic, you probably use vowels in your Hebrew too :D

Huugh,

i.e. = i.e.
e.g. = for example
A.D. = not used
B.C. = B.C.
 
Huugh, when I speak or write to a non-native english speaker I chose my words very carefully .I try not to use colloquial words or phrases or abbreviations .It saves a lot of confusion. But there still can be a problem . One European couldn't understand 'pick a steel' when his dictionary only had tool as a word for pick not 'choose' . So it's 'for example ' not i.e .
 
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