What are the rules for putting a full stop after a fax abbreviation? Sometimes I see:
Tel.: xxx-xxx-xxx
Fax.: xxx-xxx-xxx
Is "fax" here an abbreviation?
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4Sloppy people are sloppy...... I see periods in a great many places where none belong........– RegDwigнtSep 19, 2012 at 22:08
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1@ЯegDwight And, commas, as well!– bibSep 19, 2012 at 22:29
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10Why does everyone keep editing to add the extra x into the question? Phone numbers in the US and Canada are of the form xxx-xxx-xxxx, but every country has different numbering plans.– Mark BeadlesSep 19, 2012 at 22:55
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3 Answers
There is no need for a period. Fax is no longer an abbreviation, but a word in its own right.
answered Sep 19, 2012 at 18:10
I agree with both Alok and Barrie England in part, but suggest that the term fax was never an abbreviation requiring a period (at least in US), but a short form term.
Consider doctor. The abbreviation in US is Dr. (with a period). But there is a short form, somewhat informal, of doc, or more frequently, Doc without a period.
Similarly, the titles of certain religious figures are Brother and Sister. The abbreviations are respectively Br. and Sr. However, the short form for those terms are Bro and Sis (although such short forms would rarely be used in addressing those religious types).
The term telephone also illustrates the point. The accepted abbreviation is tel. or Tel., but there is a short form, phone that never takes a period.
While I have not done any analysis, a brief rumination leads me to the view that abbreviations almost always consist of letters that exist within the word that they represent. Obviously, there is no x in facsimile.
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1@MarkHurd Nice point. I think we come to these short forms in a number of ways, and there are often intermediate forms, spellings or punctuations.– bibSep 20, 2012 at 1:09
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Yeah, I think if there had been an abbreviation, it would have been fac or facs (with trailing period in the U.S.). Note that sox (as in American baseball's Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox) is just a (slightly!) shorter word for socks and of course never takes a period.– John YSep 27, 2012 at 20:06
'Fax' is an abbreviation of 'facsimile'; though the full form is far more uncommon than say 'Telephone'
