Re: injecting a little whimsy into grey text

["Michael West" <mbwest -at- bigpond -dot- com>]

> I was once writing a journal article on spinal motor control.
> Describing why one type of circuit was in the frog but not in the cat,
> I wrote "cats do not swim voluntarily."  I was told to take it out.


That's a good example of why "humour" is a problem in technical material.
What someone might think is terrifically clever will sound stupid,
incorrect, or offensive to many others. 

As your editor probably understood, iit is well known that many cats will
choose to swim when there is sufficient reward on offer, and the comment you
inserted might be taken by some readers as making light of cruelty to
animals.

Many technical writers I have known were culturally ignorant or insensitive.
They might know a lot about a TV show or a fantasy novel, but they know
little about the real world. This doesn't make them different, as a group,
from other professions, but it does make them ill-suited to decide what a
diverse audience will and won't find "funny".

The best way to make technical writing "not boring" is to make it clear,
concise and free of irrelevencies.
-- 
Mike West
Melbourne, Australia



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