Re: injecting a little whimsy into grey text

[voxwoman <voxwoman -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Really? Your editor let G'Kar pass?

Wendy ("As my great-great-great grandmother said: 'Cool'!") Sheridan

On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 1:35 PM, Will Husa <will -dot- husa -at- 4techwriter -dot- com> wrote:

> <Humor in technical writing is a tricky subject>
>
> I like to use real sounding names in my documentation. It helps to connect
> with the audience. Every so often, an editor will catch it and tell me to
> remove the Star Trek references. So I switched to Babylon 5 references and
> haven't had a problem since.
>
> Michael Garibaldi (a.k.a. Will Husa)
> =========================================
> Will Husa
> Technical Writer
> Procedure Writing and Online Help
> Phone: 708-927-3569
> Fax: 630-668-9283
> Website: www.4techwriter.com
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Janice Gelb" <Janice -dot- Gelb -at- Sun -dot- COM>
> To: "techwr-l List" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
> Sent: Monday, October 06, 2008 9:47 PM
> Subject: Re: injecting a little whimsy into grey text
>
>
> > Milan Davidovic wrote:
> >> Have you ever felt like the writer described in this post?
> >>
> >> http://www.mikepope.com/blog/DisplayBlog.aspx?permalink=2041
> >>
> >
> > Humor in technical writing is a tricky subject.As
> > the article notes, without really knowing all the
> > members of your audience, you can't really tell what
> > jokes will work. The example here is really not
> > appropriate as it is both a US-centric and religiously
> > affiliated reference.
> >
> > That said, I have seen small touches done well. However,
> > they must be done in such a way that they don't use
> > cultural referents that might be offensive or contribute
> > to a feeling of alienation, and should be unobtrusive. For
> > example, _The Whole Internet Catalog & User's Guide_ by
> > Ed Krol (published at the dawn of time in 1992) featured
> > in its examples employees and company names taken from the
> > cult film "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the
> > 8th Dimension." (The sample email from johnb -at- yoyodyne -dot- com
> > with the subject "Do You Have the Overthruster?" still
> > cracks me up.) If you knew the source, the text in the
> > examples made you laugh. If you didn't know the source,
> > the names didn't mean anything but didn't get in your way.
> >
> > -- Janice
> >
> > ***********************************************************
> > Janice Gelb          | The only connection Sun has with
> > janice -dot- gelb -at- sun -dot- com  | this message is the return address
> >
> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >
> > ComponentOne Doc-To-Help gives you everything you need to author and
> > publish quality Help, Web, and print content. Perfect for technical
> > authors, developers, and policy writers. Download a FREE trial.
> > http://www.componentone.com/DocToHelp/
> >
> > 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 will -dot- husa -at- 4techwriter -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/will.husa%404techwriter.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.
> >
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> ComponentOne Doc-To-Help gives you everything you need to author and
> publish quality Help, Web, and print content. Perfect for technical
> authors, developers, and policy writers. Download a FREE trial.
> http://www.componentone.com/DocToHelp/
>
> 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 voxwoman -at- gmail -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/voxwoman%40gmail.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.
>
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ComponentOne Doc-To-Help gives you everything you need to author and 
publish quality Help, Web, and print content. Perfect for technical 
authors, developers, and policy writers. Download a FREE trial.
http://www.componentone.com/DocToHelp/

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.