Re: Re (Was Re: Comment and Question (WAS: RE: Apology for............))

[Stan Halpin]

Bob, On this side of the pond, using what is oxymoronically known as 
American English, there is a businesspersons' phrase which is used as 
follows: "Dear Mr. Jones: In re: your letter of the 5th,..." with the 
apparent presumption being that 're' is short for 'reference'. I have 
never seen/heard 'in re to...' which you might expect if 're' were 
taken to be short for 'reply'.

Could it be that 're:' is in fact proper usage, that it is a shorthand 
reference  to 'reference'?

Stan
On Jul 21, 2004, at 2:10 AM, Bob W wrote:
Hi,
Nice post Lasse. AW means "AntWort" in German, same as RE: .
<schoolmasterish pendantry>
well, not quite. 're' is Latin for 'about' and is a complete word in
its own right. It is not short for 'reply', as some people think.
Placing 're' in the subject line for replies is an unfortunate
grammatical error that has been cast in digital concrete.
</schoolmasterish pedantry>
--
Cheers,
 Bob