When is it proper to use the term "Nota Bene"?

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what the title sez.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Saturday, 10 September 2005 15:17 (twenty years ago)

More or less never. The abbreviation NB is more widely known, and using the full latin term is an act of blood-curdling pretension.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Saturday, 10 September 2005 15:23 (twenty years ago)

Yes, that was what I was going to say - why use it at all when the abbreviation is perfectly well understood?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 10 September 2005 15:55 (twenty years ago)

I rarely see "nb" used in the US. Perhaps we find even the abbreviation pretentious! (althought ignorance is more likely)

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 10 September 2005 16:07 (twenty years ago)

i think he was wondering when the term, in any form, is appropriate

― Peter Densmore (pbnmyj), Saturday, 10 September 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

I never actually heard of NB before coming here, but, from context, it seems to be a stand in for: "by the way, this is key to note re: what I just said."

― David R. (popshots75`), Saturday, 10 September 2005 16:17 (twenty years ago)

I use it only when writing to English friends or pretentious American friends to indicate an aside that somewhat contradicts a bold statement I have made. For example:

"NB is a pretentious acronym (nb - I use it quite often myself)"

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 10 September 2005 16:18 (twenty years ago)

N.B. is very common in the UK, and doesn't at all have a pretentious ring. As this clearly isn't the case in the US, it's to be avoided, and 'Nota bene' still more so.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 10 September 2005 16:57 (twenty years ago)

And how is NB more objectionable than, say, RIP or LOL? Then what about RSVP, cuz them French are almighty pretentious, too, ain't they? NB: The preceding sentence was intended as an ironic comment on the pretense of anti-pretense.

― Aimless (Aimless), Saturday, 10 September 2005 17:02 (twenty years ago)

Compare with exclamation point in parentheses.

― M. V. (M.V.), Saturday, 10 September 2005 17:04 (twenty years ago)

NB - I did not mean to imply that people in the UK are pretentious. However, some Americans might be pretentious for using common UK acronyms (nb - I often do this).

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 10 September 2005 17:08 (twenty years ago)

I don't think anyone has seriously suggested that N.B. is pretentious.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 10 September 2005 17:09 (twenty years ago)

NB - my last sentence.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 10 September 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

Yes, a bit of xposting there - I can't say whether N.B. seems pretentious in the US. I would suspect pretention from anyone using nota bene - why use a less well-known version of the term, which will confuse some readers?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 10 September 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

I use it more to point out that I just said something pretentious.

― ssxxss (zoostead), Saturday, 10 September 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

well the abbreviation is a cliche

isn't the only way to avoid pretention to just write 'take note'?

― ssxxss (zoostead), Saturday, 10 September 2005 17:35 (twenty years ago)

I don't think it's pretentious; it's just not in common usage in the US unless you're in certain industries. Much like nonetheless, herewith, etc. Also, I feel that with more usage of the Net and email becoming more and more an accepted form of correspondence (rather than writing a full-on hard letter) the rules of language are becoming more relaxed for speed and efficiency. Thus, the more common US word of N.B. is "By the way" (UK equivalent was By-the-by, wasn't it?) anyway, "By the way" has just naturally evolved into abbrevaspeak of BTW.

― Wiggy (Wiggy), Saturday, 10 September 2005 17:39 (twenty years ago)

When is it proper to use the term "vidilicet"?

― k/l (Ken L), Saturday, 10 September 2005 17:40 (twenty years ago)

By the way doesn't mean the same as N.B. at all.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 10 September 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

There's nothing wrong with latinate obscuration, id est doing such emits an aura of learnèd sophistication--exempli gratia, in the ivory confines of academia, discoursing upon the internet, et cetera.

― Leeeeeeeee (Leee), Saturday, 10 September 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

Martin, yes and no. It does in certain context. BTW & NB while not *exactly* synonymous are pretty interchangeable.

― Wiggy (Wiggy), Saturday, 10 September 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

By the way surely signals a fairly incidental aside, and invites you to consider what is coming of no great consequence, whereas N.B. is drawing something very firmly to your attention, flagging it as important.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 10 September 2005 18:06 (twenty years ago)

No, Martin, that's US usage Wiggy is talking about. In the UK you're supposed to say "by-the-by", just like people during the last hundred years have done all the time.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Saturday, 10 September 2005 20:02 (twenty years ago)

i think americans are more likely to recognize "nota bene" than they are "nb."

― CQD CQD SOS SOS CQD DE MGY MGY (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 10 September 2005 20:06 (twenty years ago)

How should it be written?
N.B.
n.b.
NB
nb
NB-
NB:
nb-
nb:

― estela (estela), Saturday, 10 September 2005 23:34 (twenty years ago)

Isn't Nota Bene the name of someone's baby or something?

― M. V. (M.V.), Sunday, 11 September 2005 00:31 (twenty years ago)

It should be written "N.B.", and I'd have to grab my CMS to doublecheck but I believe no other punctuation after. Maybe a comma, though.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 11 September 2005 00:58 (twenty years ago)

No, isn't it lower case? Like etc. cf. ca. e.g. i.e.

― quality does not equal quality (wetmink), Sunday, 11 September 2005 01:46 (twenty years ago)

http://exhibitions.eastlothianmuseums.org/harvest/sea3/fishtr.jpg

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Sunday, 11 September 2005 06:01 (twenty years ago)

Not according to this (compare).

― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 11 September 2005 06:22 (twenty years ago)

does one ever use N.B. to begin a footnote?

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 11 September 2005 06:25 (twenty years ago)

i'd be more likely to use 'for example, ...' to start a footnote that i wanted people to 'note'

― gem (trisk), Sunday, 11 September 2005 06:39 (twenty years ago)

I'm pretty sure I've seen it done many, many times.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 11 September 2005 06:52 (twenty years ago)

I don't see why you can't use it for a footnote, if you want to emphasise that it's a particular point to note more than other footnotes.

I'd always use N.B. in formal documents, which is about the only place I'd use it at all. These things lose their stops, and I think NB is not at risk of misunderstanding and doesn't require extra working out from a reader, so is fine. I still object to things like 'ie' and 'eg', as they do stop my eyes for a moment, since lowercase unpunctuated abbreviations do not look like abbreviations, so I'd oppose 'nb'. I don't think n.b. is yet licensed by usage.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 11 September 2005 08:10 (twenty years ago)

I think in the US, you'd just use "note:", or "please note:".

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Sunday, 11 September 2005 18:26 (twenty years ago)

There's an unpardoned imperative to "Nota Bene" which I find slightly brusque.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Sunday, 11 September 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)

I should say unpardoned and emphatic (the "Bene" part).

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Sunday, 11 September 2005 18:28 (twenty years ago)

Yes, I can see that - but N.B. has been used so casually so much over here, that I think very little of that remains. 'Nota bene', even besides the substantial risk of seeming pretentious, probably reinvigorates that a bit, in much the same way as reviving a dead metaphor.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 11 September 2005 18:29 (twenty years ago)

Ok, I've investigated further and polled my peers and now I'm with ya Martin about BTW casual v. NB imperative. And Spence has point about the unpardoned imperative of NB being fussy.

And, anything that stops you for a moment be it an unpuctuated abbrevation or something like lowercase nb gets just that a stop! pay attention! which is just what you want nb to do, isn't it?

― Wiggy (Wiggy), Sunday, 11 September 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

Well, I think N.B. has that effect already, whereas I'd say you lose some of the purposeful effect of that by going to nb, and gain not more 'stop! pay attention!' but 'What is this supposed to be? Is it a typo? Oh, it's N.B., okay,' which doesn't strike me as a plus.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 11 September 2005 19:15 (twenty years ago)

Well, yes, so it works better in ALL CAPS, surely. (XpOSt)

― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 11 September 2005 19:15 (twenty years ago)

NB - Like DaveR, I only encountered "nb" once or twice before seeing it on ILX.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Sunday, 11 September 2005 19:33 (twenty years ago)

I'm wondering about it's Roman and Medieval usage as well. I translated Cicero and Caesar, but don't recall many "nb" asides.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Sunday, 11 September 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

I don't recall any when I was translating them either (for me, in school - you may mean professionally or something), which doesn't prove a great deal - there are loads of Latin phrases in English now, and I've no idea which were in common use in ancient Rome. I don't think it matters.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 11 September 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)

Oh, I don't think it validates their current usage, just thinking etymologically and historically.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Sunday, 11 September 2005 20:22 (twenty years ago)

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