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Subject:Re: Evolving language, evolving profession From:Stephen Forrest <techwriter -at- IBM -dot- NET> Date:Thu, 16 Oct 1997 15:15:23 GMT
At 09:33 AM 10/16/97 +0100, Damien Braniff wrote:
>Michael Andrew wrote:
>
>>"I've long since given up fighting battles over cliches, coined words,
>>and idiotic usage. It's pointless; we're overrun with semi-literates and
>>people who care little about formalism in language. That's OK by by me,
>>now. I've got no time for it anyway. Now I spend all of my time dealing"
>
>While I agree in part I do feel that basic grammar etc is VERY important.
>I know that language is evolving and new words are being continually added
>but, even in a country like the UK (small) the variation in dialect,
>phraseology (?) etc across the country can be quite large. It must be a
>lot more so in the US. What is needed therefore is some "commonality" in
>language that everyone can relate to - the "traffic signs" that help us get
>from A to B in a document in the "best" way. Esperanto for Tech Writers
>perhaps?!!
There's an analogy here to radio and television broadcasting. Networks in
both the U.S. and U.K. have traditionally sought people without distinctive
accents for high-profile on-air assignments, so that the voice of the
announcer would not be an impediment to understanding for anyone. The
"voice" of the tech writer should likewise be transparent to the reader.
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