9 Everyday Words That Everybody Is Using Completely Wrong

3. Id Est (i.e.)

What People Think It Means: For exampleWhat It Actually Means: That is The abbreviation €œi.e.,€ short for Latin "id est" meaning €œthat is€ (not to be confused with atrocious browser Internet Explorer which is less useful to us than a dead language), is often mistaken for yet another Latin abbreviation: e.g., which stands for exempli gratia or €œfor example.€ Many think that the two can be used interchangeably; the confusion is certainly warranted as they€™re certainly very similar abbreviations, and the only Latin the average person knows is from Harry Potter spells. However this isn€™t true. "I.e." is used only when you€™re indicating something that means the same thing as before, i.e. €œin other words.€ E.g., on the other hand, is used for presenting something like egg-samples. Ha!
 
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Canadian student. Spends probably an unhealthy amount of time enthusing over musicals, unpopular TV shows, and Harry Potter. Main life goal: to become fluent in Elvish.