Do you always feel this is the case? To me the go to single letter variables are very readable. Used so widely my eyes parse them like other symbols: =, &, +, etc.
My rule of thumb: only using single letter variables in one-liners (and never if it spills to another line), or for something that is conventionally represented as such. So for example:
```python
bar = [foo(e) for e in elements]
```
or, using `x`, `n`, `s` and similar when they represent just that, a generic variable with a number, string, etc. I think there is a Code Complete chapter about it.
Don’t use ‘i’ (looks like 1), use ‘j1’, etc - helps set you up if you need a nested loop someday. Of course, at that point better naming would probably be best.