RE: Perceptually true, Technically wrong

[John Posada <JPosada -at- book -dot- com>]

...what I mean.  A few years ago I worked with a technical writer who got in
an argument with her engineer over what to call a part in a hardware
manual. She wanted to call this part a "fan,"  but he insisted that it be
called an "Air Moving Device," and use the acronym AMD. The technically
correct nomenclature was AMD, but most likely only an engineer (who works
at IBM) would know what an AMD is.
-------------------


I can only think of one reason to call it an "Air moving device". Chances
are, the customer could order replacement parts. If whoever wrote the parts
manual already used the term, then being consistent makes sense.

OTOH, if it didn't have bearing on it, then the engineer should have been
punished by having his slide rule and pocket protector taken away for a
month.

John Posada
Senior Technical Writer
Barnes&Noble.com
jposada -at- book -dot- com
NY: 212-414-6656
Dayton: 732-438-3372
"Alright, nobody move! I've got a dragon here, and I'm not afraid to use it"
---------- Donkey

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