aka = 'in other words'

[Laurence Horn]

On Nov 1, 2012, at 10:12 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:

> On Thu, Nov 1, 2012 at 9:14 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I have hated this "a.k.a." since the first time it jumped from police
>> blotters to general usage in the 1970s.
>
> I was hoping that it had died out.
>
Maybe if "alias", as in "X, alias Y", is felt as too pejorative, possibly because of its nominalization ("an alias", usu. for those with shadowy reputations), "a.k.a." or "aka" is called on to serve as a kind of euphemism.

LH

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