No need to get sniffy, I was making a joke. But since you did...
That's pretty much how I see your earlier post. I was making a joke, and then you got sniffy. I was just responding, not being "sniffy," but you thought I was "sniffy." The nature of written communication, I suppose.
"In common usage" is not a synonym for "proper usage". Just because "everybody" or "most people" say or use a word or phrase a certain way doesn't make it acceptable usage.
I agree. Balog's reply to this is short-sighted. There must be a balance between "proper usage" and "common usage." Common usage is too heavily emphasized these days.
While I've never been one to browse legal papers for fun, I've never once seen "re" or "re:" used in lieu of "in re" anywhere except by people who do it thinking it's acceptable or proper usage because they saw someone else use it that way.
Legal papers are our new standard? What do you mean, you've never seen it, except when you have seen it, and the times you have seen it, it must have been wrong? You're conflating the two standards.
Come to think of it, though, I've never thought of "re" as being short for "reply." I've always taken it to mean "with regards to," or "regarding," which is how I used it.
