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Re: Most annoying words

Subject: Re: Most annoying words
From: Janice Gelb <janice -dot- gelb -at- sun -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2006 13:56:29 -0800

Leila Meyer wrote:

I like "enable" much better than "allow", as in "This feature allows the
user to...".

To me, allowing users to accomplish a task sounds like we're giving them
permission, which seems a bit condescending. However, enabling users implies
that we're empowering them.

But either one is better than "This feature presents the user with the
potential opportunity to...". ;-)


Our in-house style is very strict about when to use
"allow" - specifically, when something is indeed either
allowed or forbidden ("Write access allows the user to
modify the file"). Our recommended rewrite when discussing
features is to say "Use this feature to..." rather than
"This feature allows you to..." (ditto "lets" and "permits").
If that doesn't work, we're with you on recommending
"enable."

-- Janice
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References:
Most annoying words: From: Henry Meyerding
Re: Most annoying words: From: doc
Re: Most annoying words: From: Leila Meyer

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