I'm sure everyone has seen one or another form of it: a memo, post, or message with the obligatory 'to' and 'from' fields, followed by 'Re:' and then the subject of the message.
It's much more common online (in all the forum messages, usenet posts, etc.), so I'm not even sure whether it went from the virtual world into real life, or the other way around.
I always assumed Re stood for 'reply,' but I've been doubting this, because it's often used out of this context.
So, tell me, what does 're' stand for and (if it's something non-obvious) how did it originate?
2007-03-27 16:19:43 · 8 answers · asked by mnk42 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Ah, so the popular opinion is that 're' stands for regarding.
Does anyone have information about the source or origin of this usage?
2007-03-28 12:33:52 · update #1
It is an abbreviation for "regarding".
2007-03-27 16:24:50 · answer #1 · answered by miri-miri-off-the-wall 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I always thought it meant 'regarding'. Sometimes you even see 'in re'. This would stand for 'in regard to '.
Note: I wouldn't have typed this out if I had known you already had so many answers, but when I went to answer, there was only one other answer showing at the time. I'm probably doing something wrong.
2007-03-27 16:27:32 · answer #2 · answered by my 2 cents 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
re as an abbreviation for 'regarding' has been used in business letters long before it hit email and forums (I know, I'm old enough to remember using it back then :) In normal letters it was reasonably common to write something like "Re your letter of 12th April, blah blah blah" when replying to someone.
"in re:" is sometimes used, for basically the same effect, it's actually very formal, latin for 'in the matter of', you wouldn't normally use that in online communication, unless it's between lawyers.
2007-03-27 18:53:03 · answer #3 · answered by Gullefjun 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Re is shorthand for regarding......it gives you a short space to breifly indicate what the memo/mail etc. is about.
2007-03-27 16:28:10 · answer #4 · answered by tipp10 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You're right, it's the short form for REPLY and comes from REPLICARE in Latin.
If used otherwise, it's not linguistically correct.
2007-03-27 16:24:15 · answer #5 · answered by Yiya 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
i believe its an abbreviated form of "regarding"
2007-03-27 16:25:44 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It just stands for reply.
2007-03-27 16:27:50 · answer #7 · answered by armybratincamo 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
"Re" is shorthand for "regarding".
2007-03-27 16:25:52 · answer #8 · answered by stevstoc 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋