On Wed, 2004-04-28 at 08:10, Behdad Esfahbod wrote: > First one is the concept of an abbreviation: I'm strongly with > the idea that a single letter is not called an abbreviation. I > doubt if anyone disagree on this. > > Ok, let's see what we have in English: > > Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, ... > Sun, Mon, Tue, ... > S, M, T, ... > > January, February, March, ... > Jan, Feb, Mar, ... > J, F, M, ... > > Let's call the first representation the "long form", the second > the "short form", and the third the "letter form". Now, again, I > doubt if anyone disagree here that the entries in the "short > form" are called abbreviations, neither the "long form", nor the > "letter form". > > And where are they used: > > * "long form", in long date representations. Using the usual > sample: "Tuesday, 21 September 1982". > > * "short form", in a compact representation and in width-limited > fields: "Tue, 21 Sep 1982". > > * "letter form", used ONLY in a two dimensional representation of > a calendar. Like this: > > September 1982 > S M T W T F S > 1 2 3 4 > 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 > 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 > 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 > 26 27 28 29 30 > > Infact, when space allows, a two letter variant looks even > better: > > September 1982 > Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa > 1 2 3 4 > 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 > 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 > 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 > 26 27 28 29 30 > > But you never see: "T, 21 S 1982", do you? (mister Jones :P). > So, the point is that, the "letter form" (or "biletter form") is > not an abbreviation, and is an straight *mechanical* derivation > of the other forms, to fulfill the space requirements. Again, > note that it's simply "S", not "S.", ie. no abbreviation.
I copy everything to this point. I agree completely now. (I believed otherwise about two months ago or something like that, until Behdad convinced me.) > * "short form", we don't have short forms in Persian. There is > an strong reason for that: We don't have upper and lower case > letters. Why can we have these abbreviations in English? > Because "Sat" is completely different from "sat". But that's not > possible in Persian. In Persian the only way to make > abbreviations is to pick the first letters of a phrase, like > "h.sh." for "hejrie shamshi". I can't agree. There are other ways, like what Mosahab Persian Encyclopedia has done. I'll get one of FarsiWeb staff to scan a page. > * "letter form", is again used quite like the English case, ie. > in two dimensional printed calendars, but NOT anywhere else. Agreed. > So, next time, don't let Roozbeh fool you with sayin those guys > use it in Sharif University :P. Hmmm... They use it where you say they use it. On tables. > If you find anyone who claims > "letter form" is used in Persian for anything other than what I > described, ..., he's trying to confuse you for sure :P. I copy you. roozbeh _______________________________________________ PersianComputing mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.sharif.edu/mailman/listinfo/persiancomputing
