I don’t like abbreviations when they aren’t necessary. And I dislike the use of periods after abbreviations.
I understand the use of abbreviations in charts, signs or other space constrained situations, and it is economical to use abbreviations when taking notes. However, I see abbreviations in formal writing by journalists, bloggers, academics, and others that is unnecessary and (to me anyhow) annoying.
Take, for example, the names of streets. I get that a sign maker may want to write ‘Cedar St’ to save space, but why do writers feel the need to write ‘Cedar St.’ instead of ‘Cedar Street’? It just looks lazy and sloppy. And the period after ‘St’ gets confused visually with the use of a period at the end of a sentence.
In a similar vein, I don’t like the use of numerals with suffixes such as ‘1st’. If you want your text to sound like speech, then write ‘first’. If you are quoting a date, there is no need to use the suffix. If someone sees ‘November 1’, they are going to think ‘November first’. You don’t need to prompt them by putting ‘November 1st’.
While we are on the topic of months, why do so many people use four letters for the abbreviation of September (‘Sept’), when the other eleven months all use three letters? Just use ‘Sep’.
I’m less critical about the use of acronyms, although you don’t need to use periods. Also, with a few very common exceptions (USA, for example), you should define the acronym when you first use it.
I respond aesthetically to text. I like the spacing to be just right (enough space to give each word some ‘air’ but not so much space that the text loses cohesion). I like an easily comprehensible and beautiful typeface. In this context, I find the use of abbreviations to be visually distracting.
Do you agree? Do you have another angle on this topic? Am I being crazy picky?
Comments