English Café: Chopping off syllables, voc for vocabulary

Advanced Details: Chopping off syllables, voc for vocabulary?

English speakers have been chopping syllables off words for centuries. And thank goodness for that when it comes to such mouthfuls as taximeter-cabriolet. I’d much rather call a cab or a taxi.

Here are some shortenings already in common use:

• doc – document.
• exam – examination
• fab – fabulous
• graph – paragraph
• info – information
• lab – laboratory
• meds – medications
• op – opinion/operative/opportunity
• promo – promotion (with meaning of advertising)
• prep – preparation
• rehab – rehabilitation
• sax – saxophone
• vac – vacuum (I’ve also seen it used as a shortened form of vacation, but I don’t know how that vac is supposed to be pronounced.)
• vet – veterinarian or veteran
• vocab – vocabulary

Some of these shortenings, even the ones I use in my own speech, bother me when I see them in formal writing. Others don’t faze me because I’ve grown used to them.

That’s the way of change in language. Is the shortening of words a bad thing?

Not necessarily, but—depending upon the intended audience—writers should probably give some thought to making sure that their reading audience will recognize, or understand the shortened form.