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Subject:Use of jargon and Question on White paper From:Melonie Holliman <LonieH -at- AOL -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 14 Jul 1998 11:14:55 EDT
Howdy,
My old boss, an engineer, does this often. He would use a word and tell me it
was an industry standard. Sometimes it was; sometimes it was just his word. I
learned to question his terminology and often change it if possible. However,
if I questioned him too much I jeopardized my job. So I did things like add
explanations or create glossaries. I have a new boss who support my judgment
so I don't have to play this game quite so often.
By the way, is it acceptable for a white paper to have a glossary? I am
rewriting one written by the old boss. I am being able to take out the words
that were made up. However, what do I do with the true industry jargon? Many
of the people reading this thing will not know what it means.
Thanks for any help.
Melonie Holliman
ABM Data Systems, Inc.
Austin, TX
In a message dated 7/14/98 10:05:15 AM Central Daylight Time,
broll -at- MICROSOFT -dot- COM writes:
<< One caution: In the software industry, we have a tendency to make up jargon
as we go. If your documentation will be localized, keep in mind that jargon,
especially new jargon, makes a localizer's life difficult, which means your
localization costs increase. If you use jargon in documents that will be
localized, make sure the terminology is used and understood worldwide. >>
