The Glade 4.0

Most everyone is familiar with the abbreviation "re" (for "regarding") from email subject lines, but I'm curious how people feel about it being used as part of a sentence in the body of an email or in a forum post. For example:

"Hey Bob. Just wanted to update you re the new deal we discussed last week."

Does the use of "re" there seem natural and inconspicuous, or does it make you do a double take and/or annoy the sh*t out of you? Or something in between?

Don't get me started re e-mail etiquette.

OK, screw it. the url tag pwns me.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/re#English

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In time, this too shall pass.

I barely tolerate shortcuts when texting or over instant messaging. When I see it in email, when you should damned well be able to form a complete sentence, using real, full words, it just pisses me off.

If I wasn't familiar with this person's communication style then I might read that as a typo: "you're the new deal we discussed last week."

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Obnoxious.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Well, RD, as long as the person receiving the e-mail is a change agent and is aware of the back-of-the-envelope structure we laid out last night re the deal you discussed last week, it wouldn't be obnoxious at all. If that is not the case, I'd prefer to read, "Hey Bob, more about the deal...", because it's obnoxious to think people can't be assed to type a couple of letters more in a word.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

Hmm, so a forum post like this is probably not kosher with you guys:

"Lttp, but have to say re the OP that asking a/s/l is wtf-creepy, imho. Anyway, just my 2 cp. Ymmv."

TL;dr.

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Holy shitsnacks!

meh, slightly annoying I guess. Does it take that long to type the extra 7 characters?

Acceptable when using a less-than-typing-friendly medium or as an emergency procedure.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Since folks aren't reading the link, here goes...

"re" is a Latin word meaning "About, regarding, with reference to."

It's a complete preposition, in and of itself, and not an abbreviation (although I thought so too before I looked it up).

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In time, this too shall pass.

Or not.

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OP snippet:

Or ! not.

or something like that...

You trying to keep me honest, shuyung?

heh, good luck with THAT!

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In time, this too shall pass.

Lazy writing FTL.

I would assume that they were using it as an abbreviation for "regarding", as RD suggested. Since I would expect someone using Latin to also use proper grammar, I would find it even more obnoxious that they were supposing to use Latin without using it properly.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

For some reason, this has never bothered me. It just doesn't strike me as being on the same level as "b" , "r", or my personal unfavorite "ur". Maybe it's because it is a legitimate* shortening, whereas so many of these shortcuts only exist in writing anyway? I don't really know. I suppose it can be a part of douchey corporate language along with synergy and the rest, but I don't hate those words themselves... just that use of them. :p So re is usually ok by me!

*edit: I say 'legitimate' meaning it affects the language itself. Spoken language is king -- writing is just something we use to convey it.

The sentence it's used in seems fairly proper.

This one is just horrible. RLY.

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In time, this too shall pass.

"Hey Bob. Just wanted to update you re by the thing the new deal we discussed last week."

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

Bob,

Re: Updates on the new deal

<insert update here>

Thanks,
Tom

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Holy shitsnacks!

OK, I prefer the original. You didn't do justice to that at all.

"by the thing the new deal"?

I vote for "re"turning that sentence to it's original format.

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In time, this too shall pass.

Heheh, I just inserted my understanding of how "re" translates from Latin to English.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

I think I fall into the obnoxious catagory...I tend to type fast and don't use proper punctuation. I favor one long run on sentence. But, I only do that with friends! So, that's ok right? They can interpret my messages, just fine!

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Dream as if you'll live forever...
...Live as if you'll die tomorrow

Vivere Senza Rimpianti

Re: "[in] the matter of"

More literally, "by the thing". From the ablative of res ("thing" or "circumstance"). It is a common misconception that the "Re:" in correspondence is an abbreviation for regarding or reply; this is not the case for traditional letters. However, when used in an e-mail subject, there is evidence that it functions as an abbreviation of reply rather than the Latin word for thing. The use of Latin re, in the sense of "about, concerning", is English usage.

Obnoxious and ignorant.

But hey, I'm not perfect either.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

It really depends on the media used to transmit a message. In general, I have more tolerance for "msg" typed on a phone than I do for "msg" typed at a keyboard.

But for business communications, there's no excuse for poor spelling or abbreviated words that don't need to be. We have a VP that uses ur and lol and u etc in his business communications to clients... I want to punch him in his **** throat when he does that. Its so goddamn unprofessional.

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Holy shitsnacks!

I would never txt talk for work stuff..but I guess my communications could be considered ignorant

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Dream as if you'll live forever...
...Live as if you'll die tomorrow

Vivere Senza Rimpianti