This was actually a potential problem, at least on Commodore machines.

On those machines you were able to abbreviate keywords.

At the same time, they support full screen editing. That meant you could just cursor up over some code, make changes, hit enter, and the changes would take place.

However, when using the abbreviations, it was possible to create lines that were too long. I don't recall the specifics, but there was a line limit for BASIC input. Lets say it was 80 chars (for discussion).

Using abbreviations (like ? for print) and you could end up with a line that would LIST for more than 80, but if you tried to change it with the screen editor, the lines would be too long, and truncate silently.

So you had to be cautious with your use of the abbreviations.