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Subject:Re: "See" and "Utilize" From:Kent Newton <KentN -at- METRIX-INC -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 20 Feb 1996 07:35:00 PST
On Tuesday, February 20, 1996 6:27 AM, David Ibbetson wrote:
>...snipped quoted post lamenting use of "refer" in place of "see"...
>The Latin v is shorter even if it's written with a stop. e.g.
>v. Enc. Britt. p 99,999
>It will be readily understood by many people whose first language isn't
>English.
Unfortunately _v_ (which is short for the latin _vide_ [imperative form
of "see"]) will really be understood only by educated readers. I don't
mean to sound elitist, but many bright readers don't understand or
remember these literary convetions we learned in high school and college.
I work with many bright people who confuse two of the more common
conventions: i.e., (_id est_ "that is," used to denote an further
explanation of a previous statement) and e.g. (_exempli gratia_ "for
example," used to introduce an example of the previous statemet). I can
only imagine the confusion an unusual convetion like _v_ or even the full
_vide_ would produce. Since our job is to make our subject matter
understandable to the reader, I can't imagine using this form. I think
I'll stick to "see" and "refer to."
Kent Newton
Senior Technical Writer
Metrix, Inc.
kentn -at- metrix-inc -dot- com
