TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:RE: UK Style Guides From:KMcLauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 27 Nov 2000 10:57:40 -0500
Grace,
Maybe you should hold off a few weeks.
I just read in our local paper (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
that UK schools were now encouraging/permitting students
to use US spellings in several contexts. It seems that
most technical subjects are awash in US usage anyway, due to
the global US influence. Certainly US researchers publish
a lot of stuff, in part because there are so many of them
doing it. In addition, scientists and engineers in
non-English-speaking countries often publish in English
in order to reach the world audience... and they tend to
use US English when they do it. Students are allowed to use
the spellings they encounter in the bulk of their reading.
Many British scientists and engineers now publish using
US spellings, in order to keep in step with the rest of
the world.
As well, in reaction to the UK language-purists, there's a
counter-movement afoot to discredit and mothball many of the
arcane UK spellings, since they do not reflect current pronunciation,
and have not done so for years... centuries in many cases.
So-o-o-o-o-o... if you hold off for just a little longer,
mayhap your problem will solve itself.
(And if anyone cares, my tongue (tung?) was mostly NOT in
my cheek, when I wrote this.)
/kevin
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Grace Fielder [mailto:gfielder -at- typemaker -dot- co -dot- uk]
[snip]
> I am planning to write a Style Guide and much of the advice I
> have seen on
> the subject suggests basing the guide of an existing one i.e.
> Chicago Manual
> of Style and Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical
> Publications. However,
> both of these are written for American English whereas my
> target audience
> will be British English.
> Can anyone suggest a UK equivalent to these Style Guides?
> TIA
> Grace
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Develop HTML-based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver! (STC Discount.)
**NEW DATE/LOCATION!** January 16-17, 2001, New York, NY. http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.
Sponsored by SOLUTIONS, Conferences and Seminars for Communicators
Publications Management Clinic, TECH*COMM 2001 Conference, and more http://www.SolutionsEvents.com or 800-448-4230
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
