Re: Why should I fill this out?

[Mike Bygrave <bygravem -at- INTUITIVE -dot- CO -dot- UK>]

In the UK "I require" is a perfectly acceptable, if somewhat formal way of saying "I would like".  In fact, in a formal situation, saying "I would like" could be considered a bit too personal and familiar.

I didn't see the original posting, only the snippet somebody else quoted, so I may be off the mark.  However, it seems to me that the real problem here is that the bloke who wrote this message has treated it more like a letter to his bank manager than an informal email to a group of people interested in the same sort of thing as him.  It's a very British thing to do -- communicating with people you don't know on any level other than purely social can, on occasions, be painfully restrictive over here.

In this area at least, the stereotype of the British as a race of reserved, restrained 'stiff upper lip-ers' can be justified.

Of course, none of what I've said above applies to me -- I'm sound :)

Cheers,
Max


Mike Bygrave (bygravem -at- intuitive -dot- co -dot- uk)

"1966 was a great year for English football.  Cantona was born."
"I love deadlines.  I love the whooshing noise they make as they fly by." -- Douglas Adams


-----Original Message-----
From:   Beth Friedman [SMTP:bjf -at- WAVEFRONT -dot- COM]
Sent:   Tuesday, January 06, 1998 10:08 PM
To:     TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject:        Why should I fill this out?

In our previous episode, Marcus Bradley said:
> To all Technical Communicators at TECHWR-L
>
> Attached you will find a questionnaire regarding The Role of Technical
> Communicators in the Design and Production of Internet WWW sites.
>
> I require this information for a dissertation in Technical Communication
> at Coventry University UK.
>
> The attachment is in plain text form called Quest.txt, and so should be
> readable on most platforms. I would be grateful if you would complete
> and return it to the mdb3 -at- netcomuk -dot- co -dot- uk
>
> Note: Only reply direct to my e-mail address, not to TECHWR-L.

What ever happened to "please"?  "I require" just isn't high on my
list of inducements to fill out Yet Another Questionnaire.

I'd suggest you review your procedures for interviewing SMEs (subject
matter experts) before you try this sort of thing again.

> Grateful thanks to all who respond.

I'll pass, thank you.

*********************************************************************
Beth Friedman                                       bjf -at- wavefront -dot- com
"The pantry seems entirely full of Woodvilles
And Clarence has drunk two-thirds of the cellar
I wonder where my brother Richard is."     -- John M. Ford