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: clarity of terminology can save lives From:JB Foster <jb -dot- foster -at- shaw -dot- ca> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 06 Feb 2003 18:57:44 -0700
Hi Kevin,
The possibility of a company's marketing department deciding to downplay any
safety-notices - is more real than you think!
I've always wondered whether some writers chose 'caution' over 'warning' or
even 'danger', because they did not want to overly alarm either the users,
or potential purchasers. If you consider that the use of the word 'danger'
is seldom used in Europe; where instead 'Warning' is the preferred caption
used for safety-alert?s that deal with potential severe-injury or death. I
have to admit ? that there have been times, when I've thought of this
myself - Why bother to use the word ?danger?, when the Europeans are only
using ?warning? and ?caution?
Think of it this way ? If you had the choice between two sticks of
dynamite - where one is labeled ?danger: can explode once lit? and the other
is labeled ?caution: can explode once lit.? Which would you feel more
comfortable handling? Most people would instinctively go for the one with
the caution sign, thinking that it?s either a better-designed product, or
safer to use. Yet the wordings in both messages are the same. For that
reason, the decision of which signal-word to use, could influence how your
product is accepted in the market place. Also, if I remember correctly, the
ISO standard does not include ?signal-words? for safety-alerts; but instead
uses only a few universally recognized symbols along with the message panel.
Probably makes better a lot better sense to leave out the caption!
Bruce
Kevin McLauchlan wrote:
> Marketing reviewer spies "Danger" in document, and furiously
> crosses it out, remarking that we are to avoid any hint or
> suggestion that our glorious product could possibly be
> anything but benign.
Buy or upgrade to RoboHelp X3 today and receive the WebHelp
Merge Module for FREE ($299 value). RoboHelp X3's all-new
features include conditional text, completely re-engineered
printed documentation output, Context-sensitive Help Toolkit,
single-source layouts, and more!
Order online today at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
---
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.
