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Usenet Posted 23 years ago
Usage
A.B.?
I've encountered this abbreviation in some British texts: A.B., such as:
I, A.B., do hereby declare..
or somesuch. I gather the term "A.B." means "state your name/insert your name", and that it's probably not restricted to Britain. The closest definition I can find is "able bodied seaman" but this doesn't seem right.
My guess is something in Latin. Does anyone know what it is, and what it means?
Larry
I, A.B., do hereby declare..
or somesuch. I gather the term "A.B." means "state your name/insert your name", and that it's probably not restricted to Britain. The closest definition I can find is "able bodied seaman" but this doesn't seem right.
My guess is something in Latin. Does anyone know what it is, and what it means?
Larry
Top answer
, do hereby declare.. or somesuch. I gather ...
- , do hereby declare..
- or somesuch.
- I gather ...
- probably not restricted to Britain.
- B.
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3 Answers
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[nq:1]I've encountered this abbreviation in some British texts: A.B., such as: I, A.B., do hereby declare.. or somesuch. I gather ... probably not restricted to Britain. The closest definition I can find is "able bodied seaman" but this doesn't seem right.[/nq]
I know it's stupid, but A.B. did signify Able-Bodied Seaman. Logic is not a requirement in such matters.
John W Hall (Email R
I know it's stupid, but A.B. did signify Able-Bodied Seaman. Logic is not a requirement in such matters.
John W Hall (Email R
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[nq:1]I've encountered this abbreviation in some British texts: A.B., such as: I, A.B., do hereby declare.. or somesuch. I gather the term "A.B." means "state your name/insert your name", and that it's probably not restricted to Britain.[/nq]
Nope. Doing a Google search for "I a.b. do", the first four hits that turn up are from the constitutions of South Africa, Fiji (twice), and New Hampshire
Nope. Doing a Google search for "I a.b. do", the first four hits that turn up are from the constitutions of South Africa, Fiji (twice), and New Hampshire
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[nq:1]I've encountered this abbreviation in some British texts: A.B., such as: I, A.B., do hereby declare.. or somesuch. I gather ... doesn't seem right. My guess is something in Latin. Does anyone know what it is, and what it means? Larry[/nq]
Its just linguistic algebra, using letters to represent missing words.
A.B. = insert first name, last name here.
Its just linguistic algebra, using letters to represent missing words.
A.B. = insert first name, last name here.
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