• Lung@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    My question is different: what kinda psycho abbreviates “id” as I.D.? And then followup, who collapses the period into it to make “I.D?”

    Id is identification, that’s one word. This isn’t an acronym. So arguably if anything if would be abbreviated with an apostrophe or maaaybe a single period at the end. Anyway English is weird

      • Lung@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Cambridge dictionary for “id”:

        abbreviation for identification: any official card or document with your name and photograph or other information on it that you use to prove who you are:

        Do you have any ID? A driver’s license or check card will do.

    • Soggy@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      ID is short of “identity document”. The Chicago Manual of Style agrees with your second point though, keeping both punctuations.

    • VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      You pronounce the abbreviated form as “Eye Dee” so you abbreviate it as ID. No, it is not consistent with other instances of abbreviation in English, but half of English isn’t consistent with the other half anyway.

      Also, id is an actual word, so that could cause confusion. The earliest uses of the term ‘ID’ or ‘I.D.’ are also from the US military, which absolutely loves abbreviating things and making acronyms for the sake of brevity, even if the shortening doesn’t follow the usual rules.