Is there a grammatical rule for using "read" between parentheses? [closed]

As an example:

I am bored (read: lazy).

I wish to know if English Grammar has a formal construct for this usage.

Solution 1:

Looking for occurrences of (read in the Corpus of Contemporary American English, I find among the 33 first hits:

• 18 are of the form: “she promised her supporters (read: voters)”
• 5 are of the form: “she promised her supporters (read voters)”
• 10 are unrelated to your question, like “(read more in…)”

These shows two things: there are two alternatives, and while the use of a colon after reading is preferred, it is not a hard and fast rule. Also, when the colon is omitted, italicisation may be used for clarification of the intent, as in: “she promised her supporters (read voters)”; unfortunately, this is not reflected in the statistics given above.

Personally, I prefer using the colon, as I find it more readable.

Solution 2:

I agree that this expression has a more "informal and chatty" nature; I would choose it over "i.e.," for example, as a conspiratorial aside to the reader, e.g. poking fun at doublespeak: "enhanced interrogation(read: torture)", implying "we all know what they really mean when they say that!" It's also handy to know that italicization may be used in this intent-clarifying context rather than a colon.

Also, it seems that it's possible to have your cake and eat it too; i.e., retain the sardonic connotation of the aside while achieving a "more polished effect": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scilicet — "...scilicet, abbreviated as sc. ...is Latin for 'it is permitted to know'. Sc. provides a parenthetic clarification, removes an ambiguity, or supplies a word omitted in preceding text..."

Solution 3:

Actually, the use of "read" here is fairly informal and chatty. For a more polished effect, prefer "id est" or "i.e.," viz:

I am bored, i.e., lazy.