Re: Yahoo has no staff tech writers

[Kevin McLauchlan <kmclauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com>]

On Thursday 10 October 2002 15:44, John Posada wrote:
> >As I've said before, modern English speakers have a
> > grammatical neurosis. The prime symptom of this
> > neurosis is a greater concern with grammatical
> > correctness than with content.

> Not all of us.  I didn't find that sig quote below...it
> is MY quote. Personally, and I'm gonna take flack for
> this, my attention to grammar does not make my top five
> considerations.

> My deliverable should be:

> 1- useful
> 2- technically accurate
> 3- what my user and my boss wants
> 4- on time
> 5- appealing
> 6- grammatically correct

> Different factors will affect the top 4 (such as 4 will
> move up, maybe not to 1, but up, if the document might
> hold up a release or a fix a Fatal error).

> However, nothing makes 6 move up.

And, that's as it should be. You can say it, of course, 
because you have internalized the rules and don't 
*need* to even consider grammar.  Your tune would 
probably change a bit, if you found yourself leading 
a documentation project with writers who regularly 
fractured their grammar.  

I'll bet you'd gain a sudden concern for how stuff 
looked when it was going out the door (or even to 
the in-house reviewers) with your name on it.

Again, if you don't have a decent, subconcious grasp 
of the fundamentals of your language, you probably 
should not *be* in this business.  We generally can't 
*afford* to take the time to think about it. It has to 
flow naturally.  As well, you need to have it internalized 
so that you can recognize when underlings/team-members/
contractors are giving you dreck.

/kevin


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