TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
If people stop using them because there is an easier way, then we will lose
the distinction. This has already happened at least once in the English
language with Ye and Thee (though in that case, we also lost the subject
form as well as the singular). This may seem like a minor point to most
because we are so used to the way it is now, but a lot of Biblical scholars
will tell you that there are a lot of nuances in their field that have been
obscured by the ambiguity.
Just because the common use does eventually have a trend towards stripping
our language of its specificity does not mean that those of us who make our
living using the language should let it happen without putting up a fight.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Hanvey [mailto:techwriter -at- jewahe -dot- net]
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2001 1:22 PM
To: Westbrook, Bryan; TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: pronouns and portfolios
We're not talking about "losing" these pronouns, but making their use more
specific, while developing a workable solution to this on-going problem.
Also, common use will always affect how we write. It has for centuries now.
*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available 4/30/01 at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com
Sponsored by DigiPub Solutions Corp, producers of PDF 2001 Conference East,
June 4-6, Baltimore, MD. Now covering Acrobat 5. Early registration deadline
April 27. http://www.pdfconference.com.
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.