Re: New TECHWR-L Poll Question
So I'm a bit frightened by the subtext of Deborah's poll question. It implies that it should be up to each of us as an individual whether we want to adhere to Standard English (sticking to English for the moment) or veer off into whatever other diction or dialect we feel like using. Certainly, if I were managing a team of writers, I would want to have a say in the matter. I think a company should have a standard for tone, vocabulary, diction, and graphic vocabulary,too; and I think that the writers who work for that company would do well to comply with that standard for the most part (not trying to be anal about it--certainly there are cases where the rules should be bent), whether that standard is Simplified English, formal Standard English, informal Standard English, military argot, or Gen-X slang.
I don't think that the question implies that people should make up their own minds. I think it simply acknowledges that, regardless of their levels of knowledge, people will anyway. Even with a style guide, individual differences emerge.
That's not to say that everyone's opinion is worth taking with equal seriousness. Nor would I deny that this situation results in duplication of effort and could therefore be considered wasteful. However, none of that changes the observation that, for better or worse, people do make up their own minds on the subject.
--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com
"None of all the magic hosts,
None remain but a few ghosts
Of timorous heart, to linger on
Weeping for lost Babylon."
-Robert Graves, "Babylon"
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RE: New TECHWR-L Poll Question: From: Dick Margulis
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