14 May 2003
Just for Future Reference
The difference between i.e. and e.g.. I always forget this, and I’ve looked it up several times before.
e.g. — incomplete, selective list of examples. The incapacitating neuroses of Katie are many, e.g., sudden paralysing sugar cravings and an affection for soft, fluffy small animals.
i.e. — that is, in other words. Jejune will probably be more interesting later, i.e., after finals.
Fascinating, eh?
I’ve been wondering about that for a while… thanks!
The one that always gets me is qv–quod vitae, “which see,” or, in the vernacular, “go look at.” But that means the same thing as cf–confero, compare to–but then why bother having two Latin acronyms for the same meaning?
On qv vs cf:
http://www.liv.ac.uk/education/hd/latin.html
cf is for external sources
qv is for sources within the same document
e.g. is rather like egg.
e.g. = for egg-xample.
i.e. = in, ehhh, other words.
That’s how I keep ‘em straight.
i always remember them as
e.g. = example that’s good and
i.e. = it is (not so good with the e = is but the i is there)
Wow, this really is a reference thread. I didn’t even know that qv. existed, but I’ve always remembered cf. as “see, fercomparison.” Clunky but also works. I like the e.g. = egg-xample trick.
I had this same conversation about a week ago at work… Scary huh
Ah, thank you K! I guess I should have been emphasizing the con in confero–it must mean something more like “compare across.” And now I know.