Summary: use of the SLASH

[Mary Jean Fitzgibbons <MJFITZG -at- WAYNEST1 -dot- BITNET>]

A couple of weeks ago (just before I left for a 1-1/2 week vacation, to
be exact), I asked for information about the proper use of the slash.
Well, here is a summary (really a compilation) of what folks had to say.

     >I ... need to solicit your collective knowledge. I couldn't find
     >anything in my style guides and grammar books about the proper use
     >of the slash (/).
     ...
     >I want to justify changing the slash to "or" -- as it also is my
     >understanding that "or" implies "and/or".
     >

P.S. If anyone is interested in knowing what happened with the article/report
     a security officer asked me to edit: well, use of the slash was the least
     of my/his problems. I ended up providing an analysis of what it would
     take to edit/rewrite the article. And, while I was going to offer to
     do the work (if he could wait 3 months), my boss said he couldn't spare
     me (sparing me the work of having to research the whole topic and start
     from scratch). Whew!

But I sure am glad I asked my questions of the list. I now have an expanded
insert for the big Orange Book and many more legs to stand on. Thank you all!

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From:         Steve Fouts <sfouts -at- ELLISON -dot- SC -dot- TI -dot- COM>

Gregg says the "diagonal" (the jargonfile says this use is rare, and
slash is more common) is used;
     a. to express alternatives
     b. to indicate that the person or thing has two functions
     c. to express fractions

Little, Brown lumps a and b together and adds separating lines of poetry,
but does not mention c at all. LBH adds that he/she and and/or should be
avoided altogether.

Chicago refers to it as a solidus, and implies, but never states, that it
should only be used with dates, fractions, poetry, and as an abbreviation
for the word per.

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From: arlen -dot- walker -at- jci -dot- com (Arlen P. Walker)

Good luck, Mary Jean. This/That has always been one of my "hot buttons,"
right up there with "prioritize" and "get your input." (Now that I've
typed them all in the same sentence, I'm going to have to go wash my
hands after I finish this. ;{>} )

Unfortunately, it's one of those faddish customs which strike all too
frequently. The computer security officer thinks he's keeping up with the
latest trends in communication.

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From: Lori Lathrop <76620 -dot- 456 -at- CompuServe -dot- COM>

Mary Jean -- _Words into Type_ , Third Edition, page 500, says:

    The "slant" or "slash."  The solidus, called a slant or slash,
    has a variety of uses:

    It separates the numerator from the denominator in fractions: a/b
    It is the sign for shilling: 6/
    Between *and* and *or* it means "or":

        Books of psychological and/or sociological interest.
        Lost or obliterated corners, and/or reference points.

It goes on to discuss the slash as a separatrix in bibliographical matter
and the thin-spaced solidus as an indicator for the end of one line and
the beginning of the next in poetry that is quoted in text but not
set as extract.

Now that I've told you more than you ever wanted to know about the slash
without giving you a good answer to your question  :-) ... I'd vote for
replacing it with the word *or*.  Good luck, and let us know what you
decide ....

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From:         BurkBrick -at- AOL -dot- COM

I have some notes that say that "One style manual lists twenty-four
contradictory, accepted meanings for the virgule. Say what you mean -
and, or, per, or divide." Unfortunately, I don't remember which style
manual, so you'll have take my word for it. :^)

Anyway, based on this, I avoid the virgule wherever possible, because
with 24 possible meanings, the possibility for confusion is great.

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From: mpriestley -at- VNET -dot- IBM -dot- COM

I had the same feeling you did, but was forced to relinquish it.The slash
in question (called a solidus by the Chicago Manual of Style, called a
virgule by someone or it wouldn't be listed as a synonym in Webster's,
called a DIAGONAL 3 by Webster's) is properly used with dates, fractions,
units of measure (as a stand-in for "per"), and poetry (as a new-line
indicator).  See Chicago Manual for details.

Now, the Chicago Manual is the Bible, and since those are the only
accepted uses of the solidus according to them, those are the only
accepted uses for me.  However, in a desperate attempt to bolster my initial
hunch with some sort of evidence, I resorted to Webster's and found:

     diagonal n (1571) ...3: a mark / used typically to denote "or" (as in
     _and/or_), "and or" (as in _straggler/deserter_), or "per" (as in
     _feet/second_) -- called also _solidus_, _virgule_

So, / can be used as "or".  But you should probably replace it with the
the full word "or" in any case, just to keep the watchful gods of the
almighty Orange Book (Chicago Manual) happy with you.

Good luck (and deep down inside, I still think it means and/or, and only
and/or, too.  But don't tell the Orange Book I said so),

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From: Mary Jo deMeza <demezam -at- uwwvax -dot- uww -dot- edu>

Please send a summary of responses to the group or at least to me. I have
to edit articles for a supervisor who uses the slash frequently, and I
never know what to do with it. My gut feeling is to change them all to
ands or ors, but I would like to hear what the experts have to say.

========================================================================

From: mark -at- crabapple (Mark Levinson)
Subject: And/or

** Don't depend on the idea that "or" implies "and/or."
   If the blue-plate special at your local diner includes
   coffee or tea, you can't get both.

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From: "Amy Coppola" <ACOPPOLA -at- us -dot- oracle -dot- com>

>I want to justify changing the slash to "or" -- as it also is
>my understanding that "or" implies "and/or".

I'm no boolean logician, but I will dare to say that you should never
assume that "or" implies "and/or." Try using:

                        "X or Y or both."

Or, given the example you provided, would "student and employee privacy"
work? I'm guessing that the context is something like, "The information
system must guarantee student and employee privacy and integrity of grade
and payroll data."

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From: Kathleen Thompson <katht -at- microsoft -dot- com>

I had an instructor a while back who gave a very good reason for not
using a slash.

She said that when people read, their cognitive process turns the words
into narrative (or something like that). Because the slash is not a
word, it's disruptive to the reading process and slows people down.
Technical writers must convey information as clearly as possible and in
a way that requires the least amount of work by the reader.  If you put
in words or symbols that the reader must use extra effort to interpret,
you are violating this technical writing creed.  She said we should
never never use it, and that we should always spell it out as "or".


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From:         Karen Kay <karenk -at- IX -dot- NETCOM -dot- COM>

You wrote:
>Because the slash is not a
>word, it's disruptive to the reading process and slows people down.

This doesn't make sense to me. (That symbols would be read differently
from text.) I guess I'm generalizing from my experiences of reading
Japanese and Chinese. You read the meaning of the item from the shape.

I mean, you've just provided a reason for not including any graphics in
a document, which I don't think anyone would advocate!

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From:         "Arlen P. Walker" <arlen -dot- walker -at- JCI -dot- COM>

>You wrote:
>>Because the slash is not a
>>word, it's disruptive to the reading process and slows people down.

>This doesn't make sense to me. (That symbols would be read differently
>from text.) I guess I'm generalizing from my experiences of reading
>Japanese and Chinese. You read the meaning of the item from the shape.

>I mean, you've just provided a reason for not including any graphics in
>a document, which I don't think anyone would advocate!

But a graphic conveys more information in a smaller space and makes it
easier to understand (if it doesn't, then it shouldn't be there).
Therefore, while it's true it breaks the rhythm of reading, the short
delay it causes is more than made up for by the quantity and quality of
information transmitted. The slash, however, conveys little extra
information, so provides no compensation for the delay it causes.

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From: re_allen -at- pnl -dot- gov (Robert E. Allen)

Most of my references say it's used to mean "or," showing alternatives.
Only one reference shows it as meaning both "and" and "or."  One
reference says it can mean "and" as in "manager/owner," but a
hyphen is prefered.

I found two good (IMHO) justifications for eliminating it:

     "Excessive use of the slash creates choppy writing."

and my favorite,

     "Writers must rely more on the feel of a sentence than on
     the dictaes of a rule book." James Kilpatrick, "The Writer's Art"

You can impress customers with your expertise by refering to the slash
as a "virgule."   They'll be so confused trying to figure out what that
means that you can get away with anything you want.

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From: rhone -at- oro50 -dot- enet -dot- dec -dot- com

"Pinckert's Practical Grammar" says "The slash can be dismissed in a few
words. It has become fashionable as a shorthand mark that means and/or
or both, as in his/her, country/western, social/political.  As shorthand
it's welcome, but the ambiguity it stands for is unwelcome."

Hope this helps.  Regards,

Chris
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From:         "Bonnie Nestor
              <nestorm -at- FEDC04 -dot- FED -dot- ORNL -dot- GOV>

Barb (BurkBrick -at- aol -dot- com) posted a message on 31 May noting that "one
style manual lists twenty-four contradictory, accepted meanings for
the virgule." I can't top that, but I can quote from Robert A. Day's
_Scientific English: A Guide for Scientists and Other Professionals_
(Oryx Press, 1992, ISBN 0-89774-772-4):

  The slash (solidus, virgule, shilling) is considered to be a mark of
  punctuation. In my opinion, it should not be so used. It can be used
  as a mark of division.
    4/2 = 2
  But, precisely because it means "four divided by two," it should not be
  used grammatically. People who use "he/she" certainly do not mean he
  divided by she. People who use "noise/signal ratio" usually mean
  "signal to noise ratio." People who use "and/or" do not know what
  they mean.

Makes sense to me, but then, I'm like Beth Vollbach -- practically
everything that's happened to me since high school has been an accident.
Of course, I prefer to use the term "remote acausal coincidence" instead.

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Mary Jean Fitzgibbons    |  Wayne State University
Information Officer II   |  Computing & Information Technology (C&IT)
(and Newsletter Editor)  |  Planning and Support Services (PaSS) Dept.
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