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Subject:Re: There must be some kind of standard.... From:Janet Swisher <jmswisher -at- gmail -dot- com> To:jopakent <jopakent -at- comcast -dot- net> Date:Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:27:38 -0600
On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 5:06 PM, jopakent <jopakent -at- comcast -dot- net> wrote:
>
> Is there some kind of different standard that applies to procedure writing
> that allows for sentences like the following:
>
> "The purpose of this procedure is to establish the responsibilities and
> requirements
> for controlling Documents."
>
> I run into this kind of writing so frequently here, that I'm beginning to
> wonder if there might be some basis for it. It seems like there is some
> kind
> of guideline that says: "if something is important or significant,
> capitalize it."
>
> Has anyone seen a written standard that provides a justification or
> explanation for this kind of writing?
>
>
If you're editing a legal document, and the term is defined in a
"definitions" section, then it may need to be capitalized in order to
signify that it is officially "one of the things defined as a Document in
the definitions section and not something that just happens to be called a
'document'." But I more often see this sort of thing either from programmers
because there is a corresponding "Document" object in the source code, or
from over-zealous marketers indulging in what Lyn Dupre calls "Pooh-bear
capitalization", "in which Everything takes on Great Importance".
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