RE: Patronizing - and it was RE: Out of Work Tech Writers

[Sean Hower <hokumhome -at- freehomepage -dot- com>]

Wow, lot's of comments about spouces complaining about being condescending. I'll have to add mine to the list too. My wife was a die-hard Mac user, and I had to teach her how to use Windows. A couple weekends ago, the tables were turned though. 

I too have become much more exact at explaining how to accomplish tasks and in giving instructions. I've also been forced to think more concretely. This is probably a combination of my profession and of being the step-parent of an autistic child (talk about needing to communicate in concrete details!). The interesting backlash that I feel now is that when I'm not in instructor/business mode, my interpersonal communication style with friends and family becomes lazy. My audience analysis of my friends and family assumes they know what's going on in my head which, if it were true, would be a really useful trick!

I also observe what's going on around me and construct models to explain the behavior via anthropological theory. Once you start off on the path of a participant-observer, you can never go back!!! ;-)

About Sandy's customer being offended at male and female connectors.... the customer must have been a postmodernist/deconstructionist. No matter what you would have said, they would have been offended. ;-)



********************************************
Sean Hower - tech writer
http://hokum.freehomepage.com

"Whatever you do, do NOT let your editorial decisions be made by the squiggly spell-checking lines in Word!" ~Keith Cronin, Techwr-l irritant ;-)

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