and/or? (take II)

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Mark Levinson disagreed with my comment that and/or was imprecise  
because it had three different meanings: <<No...  Do you have  
examples?  To me, they seem all to mean the same thing, and to mean  
it more precisely than a bare "and" that expects us to intuit "or  
either one of them" or a bare "or" that expects us to intuit "or both  
of them together".>>

No examples off the top of my head, but I come across situations all  
the time in my editing (science) where the meaning is simply unclear:  
as I noted in my previous post, sometimes my authors mean "and",  
sometimes "or", and sometimes both. If it's sufficiently important to  
you, I can go digging through my archives to find examples. Meantime,  
I hope a few words from Garner's (2003) modern American usage will  
suffice: "To avoid ambiguity, don't use it... _Or_ alone usually  
suffices..." He then gives the example of "A or B or both" that I  
proposed as an exception.

My second objection to and/or is the use of the /, which has no  
standard meaning in current English. It's gradually developing one  
for phrases such as and/or (to mean an alternative), and it's  
gradually replacing the en dash in compounds such as author/editor,  
but we're not yet at the point that I consider it standard.

Bottom line for me? If the word can mean either "and" or "or", don't  
you think it's our editorial responsibility to help the author make  
up their mind? "And" and "or" don't overlap, and shouldn't. Why lose  
a useful distinction just because the author is too lazy to make up  
their mind?


----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
--------------------------------------------------
***Now available***  _Effective onscreen editing_
(http://www.geoff-hart.com/home/onscreen-book.htm)


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or 
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007 
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.