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ArchivesRe: What does Jno. stand for?
in reply to a message by MRF
According to http://www.serv.net/~camel/wodehouse/jno.html:
...It was once the habit of men who wrote out legal documents and such for a living, to make abbreviations wherever possible. They were, after all, paid by the document, not by the letter. And so the name John, being a common name in England at this time, was commonly abbreviated something thusly:
| n o
_| ---
That is, with a big J, followed by a little n and a little o over a line. There being no easy way of representing this in type, when printing came to be done on a press there needed to be some way of representing this. As it happened, the way settled on was as "Jno." ...
...It was once the habit of men who wrote out legal documents and such for a living, to make abbreviations wherever possible. They were, after all, paid by the document, not by the letter. And so the name John, being a common name in England at this time, was commonly abbreviated something thusly:
| n o
_| ---
That is, with a big J, followed by a little n and a little o over a line. There being no easy way of representing this in type, when printing came to be done on a press there needed to be some way of representing this. As it happened, the way settled on was as "Jno." ...
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Replies
There were other names done in this way as well, resulting in Edw., Jas., Jo. (another variant of John), Jos., Nath. (Nathaniel), and even Da. for my own name (however spelt).
The way in which these abbreviations came into use makes perfect sense. Being in a job where I have to sign scores of purchase orders, timesheets, parts releases, etc. each day, I long ago shortened my first name signature to "Da.", quite unaware of the origin of the wider practice but for the very same reason.
The way in which these abbreviations came into use makes perfect sense. Being in a job where I have to sign scores of purchase orders, timesheets, parts releases, etc. each day, I long ago shortened my first name signature to "Da.", quite unaware of the origin of the wider practice but for the very same reason.
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I was wondering what that "Da" was that you'd taken to signing off with lately. For myself at my own workplace, I simply initial purchase orders, memos, etc.
Could there be another reason why you choose not to initial things with a "DM", Daividh? Worried that maybe your co-workers might mistake you for Danger Mouse? :)
-- Nanaea
Could there be another reason why you choose not to initial things with a "DM", Daividh? Worried that maybe your co-workers might mistake you for Danger Mouse? :)
-- Nanaea
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Policy, not rodentoidentiphobia! "Reviewers" (intermediate supervisors) can initial; "approvers" (department managers) must sign. When our controller goes, he's taking the concept of "anally fixated" with him. (Besides, I have 4 DM's in my department, and I'd probably feel safer signing in any case).
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Odd that you said that, Davidh, I just got done matching PO's to invoices and entering time sheets. Do you work with me?? :)
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Sarah, Sarah...
And after a tough session of matching paperwork and puzzling out discrepant invoices, you come HERE to kick back and relax? Oy!
No, thank Gawd, I just okay the stuff being ordered and stay the heck outa range when the invoices hit. Live longer that way! (Besides, the company kindly gave me a small army of staffers to do all the REAL work :)...)
And after a tough session of matching paperwork and puzzling out discrepant invoices, you come HERE to kick back and relax? Oy!
No, thank Gawd, I just okay the stuff being ordered and stay the heck outa range when the invoices hit. Live longer that way! (Besides, the company kindly gave me a small army of staffers to do all the REAL work :)...)
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Yeah well, I am what the company kindly gave everyone else to do the real work! I am only an secretary, but apparently, in the new and changing days of business, I am also the AP and AR clerk, as well as every executive's assistant. And yes, oddly enough, this is whrere I go throughout my day to talk to people about things other than presses, metal signs, cartons, and banners. I ask again, do we work together? LOL
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I don't think so. I work for a forklift manufacturing plant (600 smiling employees) in Kentucky. Our invoices all go for matching to some anonymous corporate service center in Cleveland.
Actually, I've gained a bit of respect over the years for people with the patience to do that work without going postal. Sounds like you're burdened with a range of other responsibilities as well. Is yours a printing or converting operation?
Actually, I've gained a bit of respect over the years for people with the patience to do that work without going postal. Sounds like you're burdened with a range of other responsibilities as well. Is yours a printing or converting operation?
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I work for a screen printing company. We rent forklifts! We make the metal signs you would see in bars or liquor stores for company's like Anheuiser Busch, Coors, and Miller. We also make banners for casinos and places like Ralsten Purina. The coolest thing that we've done(in my opinion) is design the new Bud Light logo, and we make the fleet graphics that go on the Beer trucks. It's pretty cool, I get a lot of free signs. We're out of St. Louis
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