Talk:ST

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[edit] St. vs. St

St. is not the abbreviation for saint.

This error is commonly made where people are unaware of the difference between an abbreviation (flagged by the full stop which signifies the missing letters) and a contraction (no full stop).

Consequently, stone (weight) is abbreviated to st. as follows:

stone >> st(one) >> st.

...and saint is contracted to st as follows:

saint >> s(ain)t >> st

Hence:

Mr A. Smith

Mr is the contracted form of the title Mister and A. is the abbreviated form of his first name.

Nicely explained. Your point is corroborated in the Abbreviations article; I have corrected the text accordingly. CounterFX 16:58, 29 March 2007 (UTC)