4 ms·

Please dont take this as criticism and just a question: Why native English speakers like so much to shorten words so much? To me, a non native, a11y reads like

Please dont take this as criticism and just a question: Why native English speakers like so much to shorten words so much? To me, a non native, a11y reads like ally and in no means reads accessibility. Any tips on that?

lucasmullens 3y ago
It’s a Google naming convention. Internationalization (i18n) and accessibility (a11y) are the main two you’ll see.
- jhardy54 3y ago
  Also Kubernetes (k8s). See-also: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numeronym https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numeronym
- CharlesW 3y ago
  > It’s a Google naming convention. i18n was coined by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1970s or 1980s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalization_and_localization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalization_and_local... https://www.accessibility.com/glossary/a11y https://www.accessibility.com/glossary/a11y claims that this was initially a joke, which explains a lot.
- lyu07282 3y ago
  I d2't k2w w2t y1u m2n, I u1e t3e a1l t1e t2e
ksynwa 3y ago
To add to what the other reply said: a-ccessibilit-y => ccessibility is 11 characters => a11y
cantSpellSober 3y ago
Way to shorten (s5n) the typing of long words https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numeronym#Numerical_contractions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numeronym#Numerical_contractio...
- KMnO4 3y ago
  Of that list, the only ones I’ve ever seen in practice are i18n, a11y, l10n, and k8s. Three of those are (ironically) related to making content legible to everyone.
  - mst 3y ago
    I've seen a16z on twitter and o11y a few times in programming chatrooms of various sorts. But mostly only the same four as you.
amenhotep 3y ago
It's not a native English speaker thing, it's a cool tech i-don't-have-time-to-waste-writing-words thing. Outside of the tech world no native English speaker would have any idea what a11y was supposed to represent either. We do love shortening words but usually in a more natural way.
mst 3y ago
I suspect it's basically "wanted shorter terms for things that couldn't be turned into an acronym" because ... well, because we're lazy and like typing less. Though i18n for internationalisation has been around for so long now that when I see something like a11y or k8s or etc. I assume it's Another One Of Those and go find out what the long version is. You do need a font where 1 versus l is obvious, but that's also true of reading code so most of us probably -do- have such a font already. (I can see why it's confusing; all I can really say is "you get used to it eventually" and possibly "sorry" ;)
- CharlesW 3y ago
  > I suspect it's basically "wanted shorter terms for things that couldn't be turned into an acronym"… Fun fact! These are called "numeronyms".
detritus 3y ago
Native English-speaker here - I've never seen 'a11y' or whatever that is, and I find it to be opaque and incredibly stupid given context. I mean, if they were taking the piss, I might find it amusing.
microflash 3y ago
It's for this specific reason I'm working on a Vale grammar for non-native English speakers. Hopefully, I'll get it out in open this May.

lucasmullens 3y ago

It’s a Google naming convention. Internationalization (i18n) and accessibility (a11y) are the main two you’ll see.

jhardy54 3y ago
Also Kubernetes (k8s). See-also: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numeronym https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numeronym
CharlesW 3y ago
> It’s a Google naming convention. i18n was coined by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1970s or 1980s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalization_and_localization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalization_and_local... https://www.accessibility.com/glossary/a11y https://www.accessibility.com/glossary/a11y claims that this was initially a joke, which explains a lot.
lyu07282 3y ago
I d2't k2w w2t y1u m2n, I u1e t3e a1l t1e t2e

ksynwa 3y ago

To add to what the other reply said: a-ccessibilit-y => ccessibility is 11 characters => a11y

cantSpellSober 3y ago

Way to shorten (s5n) the typing of long words https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numeronym#Numerical_contractions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numeronym#Numerical_contractio...

KMnO4 3y ago
Of that list, the only ones I’ve ever seen in practice are i18n, a11y, l10n, and k8s. Three of those are (ironically) related to making content legible to everyone.
- mst 3y ago
  I've seen a16z on twitter and o11y a few times in programming chatrooms of various sorts. But mostly only the same four as you.

amenhotep 3y ago

It's not a native English speaker thing, it's a cool tech i-don't-have-time-to-waste-writing-words thing. Outside of the tech world no native English speaker would have any idea what a11y was supposed to represent either. We do love shortening words but usually in a more natural way.

mst 3y ago

I suspect it's basically "wanted shorter terms for things that couldn't be turned into an acronym" because ... well, because we're lazy and like typing less. Though i18n for internationalisation has been around for so long now that when I see something like a11y or k8s or etc. I assume it's Another One Of Those and go find out what the long version is. You do need a font where 1 versus l is obvious, but that's also true of reading code so most of us probably -do- have such a font already. (I can see why it's confusing; all I can really say is "you get used to it eventually" and possibly "sorry" ;)

CharlesW 3y ago
> I suspect it's basically "wanted shorter terms for things that couldn't be turned into an acronym"… Fun fact! These are called "numeronyms".

detritus 3y ago

Native English-speaker here - I've never seen 'a11y' or whatever that is, and I find it to be opaque and incredibly stupid given context. I mean, if they were taking the piss, I might find it amusing.

microflash 3y ago

It's for this specific reason I'm working on a Vale grammar for non-native English speakers. Hopefully, I'll get it out in open this May.