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Comment by kgermino | Hacker News Reader

This is true even on a much more micro level. As a Chicagoan who recently moved to moved to Milwaukee (< 100 miles) I'm continually surprised by cultural differences. There's still a lot the two cities have in common but in day-to-day living the differences really start to show.

I.e. I meant ion to a random friend in Chicago that I'm bummed there's no way for me to take transit to work and I get sympathetic agreement. I mention the same to someone in Milwaukee and they look at me like I have two heads (why would you want to do that?)

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I edited it out of the post, but I was about to include my Chicago story:

Because I also grew up in Chicago, and just assumed that every bar in the world, everywhere that alcohol is served, has a blues band.

It wasn't until I moved to Boston that I started noticing the lack of blues bands in all the bars.

I mentioned it to someone, and he said, "Uh... dude... you grew up in Chicago. Chicago Blues. That's a Chicago thing."

Ah.... wild. Still wondering how many things in life are like this.

I respect you but you sound very naive (not to say dumb) to me. Do you never read books, watch movies and speak to people about other places in the world at all?

Not important but just a small error that always bugs me - i.e. equates to "that is to say", so it shouldn't be used to replace e.g. meaning "for example" - unless that transit story is the entirity of the cultural differences you talk of.

Sorry, slightly OCDish about this.

It seems to be a common mistake that non-native speakers make. For instance, I myself have just recently learned (thank you HN!) the difference between i.e. and e.g. (somehow I always thought that i.e. == for example), and since then corrected some friends in that matter.

I've lost my edit overnight so I guess it stays, but I apologize for the error, I never really understood the difference between the two until now. Thanks, I will try to remember this for the future.

Not to be "That Guy," but where you've written "I.e." I think you mean "For example," which is "e.g." It took me several seconds to realize what it was you most likely meant, and it really detracted from the point of your story.

Most people don't care about these things, and that's cool, but clear and effective writing is important in all fields (and Edsger W. Dijkstra said "Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer." - I don't agree with everything Dijkstra wrote, but this one is relevant and true enough.)

Mistakes like this can really detract from getting the message across.

ADDED IN EDIT: I see I'm not the first: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2673074

To be extra pedantic, I don't think Latin is parent's native language ;)

No, understood, but when using Latin abbreviations one should still choose the correct one. I've always assumed that Dijkstra meant that one should attempt to gain mastery in the language one was using to communicate.

It always amazes and humbles me how well non-native English speakers communicate in English. I was trying to help, not to criticize or condemn.

Some Latin phrases and abbreviations should now be considered part of the English language.

Of course that means that their meaning is (in principle) decoupled from what they used to mean in Latin, and maybe one day it will be obviously correct to say that one meaning of "i.e." in English is "for example". But that day is not yet.

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