i.e and e.g.
September 18th, 2006 by SplineGuy
During a lecture last week, I made use of the latin abbreviations, “i.e.” and “e.g.”, and while I know the correct usage of these I wanted to give them the Latin phrases that they abbreviated. My brain turned off at the moment and I couldn’t recall. Well, here they are.
The Latin abbreviation i.e., which stands for id est, means that is, that is to say, or in other words. The letters e.g. stand for the Latin phrase exempli gratia, which means for example.
To remember e.g. I remember “eg-zample”, and i.e. I just know it’s “in other words”. Don’t know why I’ve retained these and can’t remember stuff I use every day….go figure…
Nice way to remember. Next time it comes up, I’ll pass it along.