b/w (was: boilermakers and depth charges)

[Lynne Murphy]

Mark Mandel asked about my abbreviation:
> I've only seen "b/w" as an abbreviation for "black-and-white", used of TV sets
> or movies/videos. Is this use for "between" common, rare, nonce, or oops?

My friend Mikey Jackman used to use it, and I picked it up from him (he's from
the Boston area).  I have no idea whether he made it up or whether it's
widespread, but I've never seen anyone else but him and me using it. I have seen
other people use bt or b/t.

But it's also used about 45 rpm singles, and I never figured out what it meant
there "backed with?"

Do you remember this?  They'd have the name of the song that was the single,
then "b/w" and then the name of the song on the b-side.  What did it stand for
there?

Lynne