From: Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>
To: Bastien <bzg@gnu.org>
Cc: 39778@debbugs.gnu.org, "Štěpán Němec" <stepnem@gmail.com>
Subject: bug#39778: [PATCH] checkdoc: Don't mistake "cf." for sentence end
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2020 22:00:29 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <878skqz8k2.fsf@stefankangas.se> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <87imjumxff.fsf@gnu.org> (Bastien's message of "Tue, 25 Feb 2020 17:41:40 +0100")
Bastien <bzg@gnu.org> writes:
> Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:
>
>>> Is "cf." really so much less common?
>>
>> I think it is, but I won't try to support that as a fact.
While looking into this, I found Writing for Computer Science by
(2004) by Justin Zobel.
"It is often tempting to use abbreviations such as 'no.', 'i.e.',
'e.g.' 'c.f.' and 'w.r.t.' These save little space on the page,
but slow readers down. It is almost always desirable to expand
these abbreviations, to 'number', 'that is', 'for example',
'compared with' (or more accurately 'in contrast to', since that
is the sense in which 'c.f.' should be used), and 'with respect
to', or synonyms of these expressions. Where such abbreviations
are used, the punctuation should be as if the expanded form were
used. Also consider expanding abbreviations such as 'Fig.' and
'Alg.' and don't use concoctions such as '1st' or '2nd'. Months
should not be abbreviated. Make sure that all abbreviations and
acronyms are explained when they are first used." (page 57)
I think the above points should be carefully considered.
> FWIW I think "cf." is pretty common. It also has the advantage
> of being understood by non-english speaker.
That's not the case when it comes to speakers of Swedish. I don't
know this for a fact, but I'd assume that this abbreviation is more
common in the Romance languages.
Best regards,
Stefan Kangas
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2020-02-25 21:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 12+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2020-02-25 12:22 bug#39778: [PATCH] checkdoc: Don't mistake "cf." for sentence end Štěpán Němec
2020-02-25 15:49 ` Drew Adams
2020-02-25 16:02 ` Štěpán Němec
2020-02-25 16:35 ` Drew Adams
2020-02-25 16:41 ` Bastien
2020-02-25 21:00 ` Stefan Kangas [this message]
2020-02-25 21:41 ` Drew Adams
2020-02-26 2:57 ` Richard Stallman
2020-02-26 15:03 ` Drew Adams
2020-03-10 2:41 ` Richard Stallman
2020-03-10 13:58 ` Stefan Kangas
2020-02-28 13:19 ` Eli Zaretskii
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