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Re:13,500 Vivo Smartphones found running on same IMEI number by derefr on Saturday June 06, 2020 @04:01PM (#23441845)
It's the common abbreviation, but I wasn't sure as to its origin myself; the closest to a straight answer I can find is from https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=639390:

> mfg came from manufacturing; its existence meant that some people started using it for manufacturer as well; but having a g in the abbreviation without one in the word bothered people, so they added an r to make it mfgr.

This leads me to wish there was a well-researched blog for abbreviation/initialism/acronym etymologies, the way https://grammarphobia.com/ is for English word etmologies. But I guess there aren't that many of these that are in need of explanation; usually they're pretty obvious.

Re:13,500 Vivo Smartphones found running on same IMEI number by thaumasiotes on Saturday June 06, 2020 @04:17PM (#23441930)
> But I guess there aren't that many of these that are in need of explanation; usually they're pretty obvious.

Something that always amuses me is that the two-letter abbreviation for Shanghai is SH. I find this funny because it seems so natural from an English perspective.

In fact, of course, nobody cares what English speakers think about a Chinese abbreviation of a Chinese name, and the H in the abbreviation refers to the second H in the word, not the first.