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Subject:i. e., Dumb Down? From:"Walter L. Bazzini" <73300 -dot- 111 -at- COMPUSERVE -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 26 Nov 1996 09:02:36 EST
>> The *average* reader (the ones who don't read with a dictionary in their
lap) figures out the meaning without it becoming a big issue.
>> So why use it--just because it lends a highbrow air and let's us talk
condescendingly about "weak" readers and poorly educated? Everyone understands
the english alternatives. Let's let i.e., and e.g., fall by the wayside as
archaic language should. <<
Okay, I'll admit that I'm not an average reader in that not only do I (as I'm
sure do many out here) have said dictionary in my lap, but actually enjoy coming
across a word that makes me pick it up. I also appreciate that most people
*don't* want to keep a dictionary on hand in order to understand the manual that
came with their new gizmo. But are "i.e." and "e.g." really so confusing and
obscure to the "average" reader that they be deemed archaic and "highbrow", and
allowed to fall by the wayside? Where do we draw the line between "average" and
"illiterate"?
--Walter L. Bazzini
73300 -dot- 111 -at- compuserve -dot- com
