A small upsetting thing
The following sentence was one I wrote about a year and a half ago:
The way that you access teenage parents to do research like this is through the agencies that support them (e.g. LEA specialist teenage mums’ schools, Sure Start Plus, voluntary organisations like YWCA and Barnardo’s).
Apparently, according to the style guide of the Guardian and my workplace’s corporate style, I should now write:
The way that you access teenage parents to do research like this is through the agencies that support them (eg LEA specialist teenage mums’ schools, Sure Start Plus, voluntary organisations like YWCA and Barnardo’s).
Horrible, isn’t it? That poor “eg”, with no full points. I was most upset to learn that this is now deemed correct.
I think I’m with the University of St Andrew’s on this; they give gratifyingly full guidance:
No full stops or spaces between or after letters, except at end of sentence. (e.g. UK not U.K.) Degree abbreviations (MLitt, BSc) do not have full stops except in formal documents like Regulations and Course Catalogue entries (e.g. M.Litt., B.Sc.). [...]
(Exception to first point above) When abbreviating Latin use full stops between or after (’c.’, ‘i.e.’ or ‘e.g.’) (when only single example is given, use ‘for example’ rather than e.g.).
It’s grammatical correctness gone mad.
I always thought “e.g.” was the Americanised version of “eg.”
I feel strongly that someone should post a comment on this entirely in Latin. Dan?
even more upsetting? when people misuse e.g. and i.e. - it drives me nuts. the only thing worse than that is saying e.g. or i.e. aloud!
My spell checker likes to correct eg to e.g. but then leaves ie alone.
And then it keeps putting a z where I’m not expecting it. I imagine its Americanized.
nota delenda est
ie I agree with the Guardian