abbreviations

     You may see these letters at the end of a letter or email, or even in the body of an article or comment--


p.s. stands for post script. It is written at the bottom of a letter after the writer has signed off. The p.s. indicates an afterthought; something that was added after the letter was written.

n.b. stands for nota bene. Nota bene is Latin for pay attention, or make sure to notice this. It may be added at the bottom of a letter, or it may be at the bottom of the page of a book, marked by an asterisk (* )--one that matches the item to which you were meant to pay attention. The n.b. may add an additional fact or explanation to something that was mentioned earlier in the letter or on the page.

etc. stands for et cetera. Et cetera is Latin for "and so on", or "and other things".  Etc. is added onto a list to indicate that it continues. The writer doesn't need to exhaust every possibility. He or she adds "etc." instead of saying "and so on, and so forth", or some other windy phrase.

et al is an abbreviation for et alia. Et alia is Latin for "and others", meaning people. It may be placed at the end of a list of names that are used to identify the owners of a property. As long as we have the first few names, we probably don't need the whole list. For legal or insurance purposes the entire list will be somewhere in the same document. After the list has been written in its entirety once, any further reference may read "Smith, Jones, et al".

dba stands for "doing business as". DBA is another legal or insurance term, used to indicate the business name of an individual or group not otherwise incorporated. "John Smith, dba Smith Plumbing" may be on an insurance policy or business license.

aka means "also known as". Aka may also indicate the business use of a name, for legal purposes called a "fictitious name". If you have occasion to sue a plumber in court, you may be suing "John Smith, aka Smith Plumbing".