Sr.

English translation: serial number

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:Sr.
Selected answer:serial number
Entered by: Charles Davis

11:51 Sep 9, 2015
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Law/Patents - Government / Politics
English term or phrase: Sr.
What does Sr. stand for in the application below? Does it mean title? Thanks!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5QwklUeAEMlWl9maDU5MGZpV2c...
Ivan Niu
China
Local time: 19:45
serial number
Explanation:
I think this is probably a short form of "Sr. No.", which in turn is an abbreviation of "serial number".

This is a rather strange and not altogether correct use of "serial number", but it is very common on documents in English in the country in question (United Arab Emirates). When they have a table of some kind they very often have a column headed "Sr. No."; what they seem to mean by it is simply index number or item number: a numbering of the entries in sequence so as to be able to identify them.

If this is right, there are two anomalies here: first, that it has "Sr." alone and not "Sr.No." (but the latter wouldn't fit in the box, which is very narrow) and second, that it is the last column rather than the first. Nevertheless, given how often this seems to occur in the UAE, I think it's probably the answer.

Tables don't display well here, but let me give some examples. There are two here, a table of institutions and a list of committee members. Both have a "Sr. No." column, which simply numbers the entries, 01, 02, 03...
http://www.kunhimangalam.com/PayyanurCollege.asp

Another example, this time a blank table in which to enter authorised signatories for a bank account. Again, there is a "Sr. No." column (see p. 2):
http://www.uab.ae/cms/images/stories/reports/edoc_instructio...

There are quite a lot more; look for "Sr. No." in UAE site.

As for Sr. No. meaning serial number, which is quite standard, see here, for example:

"Short Description: Slab serial number
Short Label(Max length): Sr.no(10)
Medium Label(Max length): Serial number(15)
Long Label(Max length): Slab serial number(20)"
http://www.se80.co.uk/saptabfields/v/v_t7/v_t7inu5-srlno.htm

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2015-09-09 13:24:11 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

A further advantage of including a column of this kind in a table, apart from ease of reference, is that if the table is in a speadsheet program you can easily restore the initial order after sorting the data in a different order.
Selected response from:

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 13:45
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
3 +6serial number
Charles Davis
2signature
Adrian Liszewski
2Sr., Jr. III, II, etc.
Kelsey Donk


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
sr.
signature


Explanation:
This is my guess. Place for simplified signature.

Adrian Liszewski
Poland
Local time: 13:45
Native speaker of: Polish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Tony M: As good a guess as any, given the cryptic context. But I'm not sure why this list of employees would need to initial anything on this form?
5 mins

neutral  AllegroTrans: much too small a space and very unlikely abbreviation ("Sig." would have been a possibility)
6 hrs
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +6
sr.
serial number


Explanation:
I think this is probably a short form of "Sr. No.", which in turn is an abbreviation of "serial number".

This is a rather strange and not altogether correct use of "serial number", but it is very common on documents in English in the country in question (United Arab Emirates). When they have a table of some kind they very often have a column headed "Sr. No."; what they seem to mean by it is simply index number or item number: a numbering of the entries in sequence so as to be able to identify them.

If this is right, there are two anomalies here: first, that it has "Sr." alone and not "Sr.No." (but the latter wouldn't fit in the box, which is very narrow) and second, that it is the last column rather than the first. Nevertheless, given how often this seems to occur in the UAE, I think it's probably the answer.

Tables don't display well here, but let me give some examples. There are two here, a table of institutions and a list of committee members. Both have a "Sr. No." column, which simply numbers the entries, 01, 02, 03...
http://www.kunhimangalam.com/PayyanurCollege.asp

Another example, this time a blank table in which to enter authorised signatories for a bank account. Again, there is a "Sr. No." column (see p. 2):
http://www.uab.ae/cms/images/stories/reports/edoc_instructio...

There are quite a lot more; look for "Sr. No." in UAE site.

As for Sr. No. meaning serial number, which is quite standard, see here, for example:

"Short Description: Slab serial number
Short Label(Max length): Sr.no(10)
Medium Label(Max length): Serial number(15)
Long Label(Max length): Slab serial number(20)"
http://www.se80.co.uk/saptabfields/v/v_t7/v_t7inu5-srlno.htm

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2015-09-09 13:24:11 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

A further advantage of including a column of this kind in a table, apart from ease of reference, is that if the table is in a speadsheet program you can easily restore the initial order after sorting the data in a different order.

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 13:45
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 44
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Alison MacG: Was just about to post this same answer. Here is a form I found (see page 1 with numbers 1-6 already inserted) http://www.trakhees.ae/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=4847...
2 mins
  -> That's a great reference; better than mine :) Sr. alone, and on the right, and clearly used in this sense. Thanks, Alison! (PS. Sorry I unwittingly pipped you at the post. It's already happened to me today the other way round.)

neutral  Terry Richards: That's an awfully narrow column for a serial number...
23 mins
  -> But Terry, it's not a real "serial number" as such. They're misusing the term, as I've said. Look at Alison's document. By "serial number" they just mean 1, 2, 3 etc. — they simply number the entries in sequence.

agree  acetran: Document belongs to UAE, which means originally in Arabic, which is read right to left. Verbatim translation to English keeps it right to left: Sr. No., Name, Nationality, Occupation, Address. Narrow Column is fine since it is just a single digit no.
31 mins
  -> Absolutely, and many thanks for the point about right to left. I suspected that was probably involved.

agree  Shera Lyn Parpia: Alison's link makes it very clear...
1 hr
  -> Yes indeed. Many thanks :)

agree  AllegroTrans
5 hrs
  -> Thanks, Allegro :)

agree  Yvonne Gallagher: clear from Alison's link
7 hrs
  -> Yes, putting that together with mine (which indicate that Sr. = Sr. No.) I think it wraps it up. Thanks :)

agree  bestofbest
1 day 36 mins
  -> Thanks :)
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
sr.
Sr., Jr. III, II, etc.


Explanation:
A guess, but I'm wondering if the Sr. could indicate that the employee should place name and then suffix? I'm not sure why this would be helpful in the context, but it's what came to mind.

For instance, James Merton III or Charles Beringer Sr. Perhaps I'm far off...

Kelsey Donk
United States
Local time: 06:45
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  AllegroTrans: A VERY American way of doing things which I do not see used anywhere else in the world
5 hrs
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