kinda weird English writing question, when would you use "&" vs. "and"?
Is it just a purely aesthetic thing or maybe a functional thing to shorten the length of a sentence/phrase?
why do I get the feeling there is some arcane English grammar rule about only using ampersands as substitution for "and" in specific circumstances lol
@packetcat i once saw @Lady suggest that “&” suggests that the linked terms are components of a whole; this is why i write things like “m & j” when talking about them
@aescling @packetcat yeah “&” is typically used in names and binds tighter than “and”; it also more frequently does not include the oxford comma
for example one might say “The lawyers offices nearby are Smith & Taylor and Harvey & Sons”, which means something different from “Smith and Taylor & Harvey and Sons”
in music, “&” often indicates two artists working together as a single “band”, whereas “and” typically implies a looser collaboration
in ordinary speech, where there isn’t risk of confusion, the trend is typically to always write out “and” but you can use “&” without problem, it will just look less formal
@packetcat historical usage is not entirely consistent with this purrinciple but, fur example, when the WGA makes writing credits, they use & to mean that two people collaborated, and “and” to mean that two people worked on the same script at diffurent times