RE: Actionable

Subject: RE: Actionable
From: "McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>
To: "Nancy Allison" <maker -at- verizon -dot- net>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 10:18:32 -0400

Nancy Allison moaned:
> When did this word go from meaning "subject to or affording ground for
an
> action or suit at law" to "something that can be acted on"?
>
> My 1981 Webster's Collegiate Dictionary provides only the first
> definition.
>
> It cracks me up when I find the term in the usual turgid official
prose in
> what is evidently intended to be the second sense. Example:
>
> "The Executive Committee will follow clearly defined process that is
> timely,
> cost-effective, and actionable."

The precise date is not known.

What is known is that it occurred when some marketing-manglement
buffoon, well into his (it's always a 'he') Peter Principle dotage,
attempted to sound more important than his diminishing station would
allow. His equally intelligent and adept successor noticed the
utterance, thought it worth stealing, and ran with it.
Soon, it was peppering memos and e-mails everywhere, and political
idiot-savants were embracing it like salvation itself.

There you have it.

Degradation happens, aided by linguistic quislings and fifth-columnists
under every rock.

Kevin
The information contained in this electronic mail transmission
may be privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected
from disclosure. If you have received this communication in
error, please notify us immediately by replying to this
message and deleting it from your computer without copying
or disclosing it.


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

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.


References:
Auto-formatting elements in Structured FrameMaker: From: Aisha Alam
Actionable: From: Nancy Allison

Previous by Author: Interim UPDATE: RE: WebHelp and Firefox 3 beta
Next by Author: RE: Replacing "master" and "slave" terminology
Previous by Thread: RE: Actionable
Next by Thread: The Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads