When to use "&" or "and"

Question

I was wondering what are the rules (English or Spanish) for when to use the "&" sign vs. spelling it out and use "and".

As I am working with a co-worker on a directory, we noticed that some specialties use "and" when others use sign "&".

Answer 1

Stick with ' and' in text material

If you're texting on your mobile phone, ' &' is fine. Writing ' and' can never be wrong, but using '&'' in a section of serious writing looks as though you lack education.

Other opinions welcome, I may be old-fashioned.

I agree, & is for very informal writing, unless it's part of a company name or something like that. - rodneyp, Mar 4, 2013

gracias a todos. - annierats, Mar 4, 2013

Great. It is hard to keep up to date when a lot of companies choose to be more "modern" and use the "&' sign instead of spelling it out. Thank you both so much. - kclu787, Mar 4, 2013

Rock 'n Roll amiga :) - ian-hill, Mar 4, 2013

I stuck an "h" onto "wit," I'm assuming that's what you intended. - BigMike, Mar 4, 2013

Answer 2

Annie's explanation for & ; and is great.

For the Spanish, since and = y, which is just as easy to write as to substitute with a symbol, it would be redundant to use a symbol, I would think.

I agree, it takes exactly the same time. - annierats, Mar 4, 2013