Latin is technically dead: no-one speaks it any more. But we would be so lost if we couldn’t use Latin’s littlies — those handy abbreviations that pepper our written and spoken communications, i.e. e.g., cf., P.S., n.b., etc. etc.

As seemingly benign as they are tiny, these shortcuts actually carry their own little interesting confusions and usage questions, which we don’t usually stop to think about. Since the abbreviations are there to save time and keystrokes, why waste any more time on them?

Let’s take Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which prompted a hugely important national debate that continues to this day: how should we abbreviate the word versus, and how do we pronounce it when we’re saying it aloud? Should it be written as Roe v. Wade, Roe vs. Wade, Roe v Wade, or Roe vs Wade? Or even, possibly, Roe versus Wade? And should it be said aloud as “Roe versus Wade” or “Roe vee Wade”? These are big questions…V. and vs. mean the same thing: they’re both shortened versions of versus (meaning “against”, “as opposed to”, or “in contrast to”). When it’s naming a legal case — as it was for Roe and Wade, — it’s usually written as v alone (e.g. “Bloggs v. Schmo”). And most attorneys will pronounce it “vee” when they’re saying it aloud. (I’m not sure if that’s true of solicitors and barristers too: probably not.) But once we get outside the courtroom — when we’re talking about a sports match, a civil dispute, or just two people or things coming up against each other — it’s more likely to be written as vs. and pronounced “versus”, e.g. “descriptivists vs. prescriptivists on the issue of the word hopefully”. (Although hang on a minute: that Hollywood movie Kramer vs. Kramer was about a legal custody battle, wasn’t it? They put an s in their versus. Maybe they were trying to emphasize the non-legal aspects of the battle). But then, oh dear, we seem to have a trans-Atlantic spanner in the works, i.e. a case of Yanks vs. Brits. Over in the UK, The Guardian‘s style guide prescribes “v for versus, not vs: England v Australia, Rochdale v Sheffield Wednesday, etc.” So maybe the Brits prefer v to vs and they don’t recognize that subtle distinction between legal and non-legal usage. Or perhaps there’s just no rhyme or reason on either side of the pond, and how we abbreviate and pronounce this handy Latin word is simply a case of user’s choice.

N.B.: when it comes to a period or no period (aka full stop or no full stop), there does seem to be a cultural difference. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Americans abbreviate it as v. or vs., i.e. with a period, whereas Brits always take out the full stops after vs and they sometimes do after after v (as The Guardian prefers). Putting periods after abbreviations is another Ameri-Brit divider that’s best left for a separate discussion.

I think we’ve exhausted v vs. vs. Then there’s the question of e.g. vs. i.e.: one means “for example” and the other means “that is”, but they’re often confused with each other. Also, should there be a comma after i.e.? Brits and Americans disagree about this. Along with vs. we can add cf. and cp. to the comparison pool: shall we discuss cf. v. vs. v. cp. vs. v.? And q.v. throws yet another reference into the mix — but only locally. Etc. and et al. are cousins, although the former is more general and can refer to more or less anything “else” under discussion, whereas “al.” refers to all the other people on a list. It’s curious that we tend to say “etcetera” (often vocalized as “ex-e-tera”) rather than “E-T-C”, even though it has more syllables, and yet we say “P-S” rather than “post script” (despite them having the same number of syllables)? Then there are those notes … If we’re adding an important note, when is n.b. more suitable than P.S.? (Answer: when it’s embedded in the text, rather than following it.) We could probably talk about these Latin littlies ad infinitum, but we won’t. Below is a more comprehensive explanation for those mentioned above, with their Latin names and translations, meanings and usual pronunciations when read aloud.

Meanwhile, take it away Yul Brenner as Rodger & Hammerstein’s King of Siam who had a penchant for etc. Etc., etc., etc. …

e.g. (exampli gratia, “for the sake of an example”). Often confused with id est (i.e., q.v.) “for example”, is usually abbreviated “e.g.” (less commonly, ex. gr.); in this usage it is sometimes followed by a comma, depending on style. Read aloud as either “for example” or “E-G”.

i.e. (id est, “that is”). “That is (to say)” in the sense of “that means” and “which means”, or “in other words”, or sometimes “in this case”, depending on the context; may be followed by a comma, or not, depending on style (American English and British English respectively). There should be a period after both letters, since it is an abbreviation of two words. Usually read aloud as “I-E”.

cf. (confer, “compare”). Its meaning in that context is “consult”, and the intention is to draw attention to other material or ideas that may provide either similar or contrasting arguments or information. Another abbreviation, equivalently used in English for more than three centuries, is cp., an abbreviation of compare. Cf. is read aloud as “C-F” or “compare”.

q.v. (quod vide, “which see”). Used after a term or phrase that should be looked up elsewhere in the current document or book. For more than one term or phrase, the plural is quae vide (qq.v.). Read aloud as “Q-V”.

vs., v., vs, or v  (versus, “against, turned”). See above. Read aloud as either “versus” or “vee”.

n.b. (nota bene, “note well”.) The phrase first appeared in writing c.1721. Often abbreviated as “N.B.“, “N.b.” or “n.b.“. It’s used, particularly in legal papers, to draw the attention of the reader to a certain (side) aspect or detail of the subject on hand, translating it as “pay attention” or “take notice”. Read aloud as either “N-B” or “note”.

P.S. (post scriptum, “written after”). Using the sense of “that which comes after the writing”, P.S. refers to the writing added after the main body of a letter or other body of writing. Read aloud as “P-S.”.

etc. (et cetera, “and the rest”). In modern usage etc. is used to mean “and so on” or “and more”. Also written as &c. Usually read aloud as “etcetera”.

et al. (et alii, “and others”). Used similarly to et cetera (q.v.), to stand for a list of names. Alii is masculine, so it can be used for men, or groups of men and women. Read aloud as “et al”.

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