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Unusual Plurals of Abbreviations

Thanks to Lawrence K., who responded to my tip on forming plurals of symbols by pointing out that the plurals of some abbreviations are formed in ways other than by adding an s.

Example: pp. = pages

Example: sp. = species (singular); spp. = species (plural)

Example: cc., c.c., C.C., Cc, or cc = copy/copies or carbon copy/copies

Interesting Note: The original meaning of cc was carbon copy. Before photocopiers and computer printers, to make one or more copies of a document, carbon paper was placed between sheets of typewriter paper. Back then, as is the case today, the abbreviation was placed at the end of the document, followed by a colon and the name/location where the copy was sent. Fast forward some years…of course, your e-mail program has this feature, allowing you to send e-mails to any number of people.

Posted on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 9:14 am

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