Hi, English isn’t my mother tongue so I was asking myself that question since I first encounted a w/… Back then I was like: “What tf does ‘w slash’ stand for?” And when I found out I was like “How, why, and is it any intuitive?” But I never dared to ask that until now

  • deranger
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    12
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Don’t forget re: which means regarding or in reference to, not reply.

    • Taniwha420@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      … I think it’s actually a Latin word, “re,”, meaning, “the matter (subject)” not an abbreviation at all.

      • user134450@feddit.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        yeah this is a real pet peeve of mine.

        In German many people, web mailers and also sometimes even email software use “AW:” (short for AntWort) instead of “Re:” and then some of them don’t even recognize the existence of a previous “AW:” or “Re:” giving you such wondrous email subjects as: “AW: Re: AW: Re: AW: AW: Re: AW: Re: really important subject” 🤦

        • Square Singer@feddit.de
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          Oh, that totally works with a single language too: “Re: Re: Re:…” or “AW: AW: AW:…” seen both of that often enough.

          • user134450@feddit.de
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            yes indeed. i keep being confused how email can still suck so much sometimes when it had decades to mature.

        • Taniwha420@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          The Foreword? Or is that answer? Forward in English would be the author’s message at the beginning of a book.