Comments | baald: b/w means "backed with"

baald

b/w means "backed with"

Jul 30, 2002 14:24

when did people start writing 'b/w' as an abbreviation for 'between'? shouldn't it be an abbreviation for beWEEN if anything? anyway, took a look at dictionary.com to see when this (ab)use started, and it doesn't list 'between', just 'black and white' and 'biological warfare'. now the old and/or astute among you will empathize w/ my ( Read more... )

Comments 4

that's how latin turned into french bodega July 30 2002, 16:14:08 UTC

but i agree, b/w is backed with or black & white. what they mean is btw

copyeditors also know that s/b is "should be"

Re: that's how latin turned into french baald July 30 2002, 16:38:07 UTC

yeah - i'm actually just being a curmudgeon. i'm usually *very* liberal when it comes to usage and am usually the one to complain about the rectally impacted that insist on dissing any usage not found in their palm edition of the OED.

and i hadn't stuck i anything in my lj for a while...

Re: that's how latin turned into french bodega July 31 2002, 18:54:54 UTC

i hears ya. and b/w for between would bother me too (will, in fact, bother me when i see it, i'm sure). might as well b/w for because!

shacker July 30 2002, 23:24:24 UTC

Guilty as charged on that one. Though I seem to remember becoming aware of it as a teenager -- it doesn't feel new to me. What makes it a good mnemonic is that the / comes beTWEEN the Be and the tWeen.