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On 11/08/00 1:24 PM, Kathy -dot- Whitehead -at- intermec -dot- com
(Kathy -dot- Whitehead -at- intermec -dot- com) wrote:
>I disagree. I think our "professional" writing will stay basically the same.
>Spoken slang didn't change the way we wrote in a professional setting. I
>don't think online written slang will change the way we write in a
>professional setting.
I've already posted on this, but what you're saying just isn't true.
"Professional writing" used to forbid contractions; the newest generation
of writers is more influenced by the clear and accessible "For Dummies"
style, and uses contractions more freely. That's evolution in our field
in action.
Today's illiterate teenagers posting online will, after some education,
become tomorrow's technical writers. Are they just going to forget the
jargon, slang, and shortcuts because they're writing documentation? Or is
some of what they've used their whole lives going to creep in anyway, and
become acceptable through sheer persistence?
Jargon and slang are added each time major dictionaries are updated... of
course it changes the way we write as well. That's language for you.
----->Mike
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