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Subject:The meaning of "technical" From:John Cornellier <cornelli -at- CLAMART -dot- SRPC -dot- SLB -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 5 Jan 1999 17:21:11 +0100
Re. Diane Gutierrez's post about the vernacular meaning of
technical:
Merriam Webster's gives the definition of "technical" (1b) as
"marked by or characteristic of specialization".
In the case below it just means "specialized". E.g., people
describe ski runs or mountain bike trails as "technical",
which means requiring specialized skills, or TECHniques.
(Those interested in etymology should check technology, BTW).
This is also the sense of "technical" in "technical writer".
Many of the recent postings to this list, comparing writers to
engineers, etc., make the false assumption that "technical" in
"technical writer" necessarily refers to technology.
John Cornellier
>While reading a newspost, this tidbit came up: 6,000 welfare
families were
>wrongly cut off benefits because they did not respond to a
routine mailing.
>The spokesperson:
>
>>>called the letter ``confusing; difficult to understand,
complete and
>return; and technical in nature.''<<
>
>Hm, interesting. What does this imply about the vernacular
meaning of
>"technical"?
