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Subject:Turn the radio on From:"Nora Merhar" <nmerhar -at- charlesindustries -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 9 Nov 2001 11:46:09 -0600
For most English-speaking audiences, I cannot imagine there would be any
ambiguity here. If I tell you to "turn the radio on" or "turn on the
radio",
you're not going to start fondling its knobs... you'll touch the knob just
long enough to accomplish the task! And if I was writing for translation, I
would hope that my translator would understand well enough to make the
correct translation of that phrase. As far as the phrase itself, it's a
matter of personal preference.
However, since I write hardware manuals for TELCO products, I wouldn't say
"turn so-and-so option on"--I would say (for example) "set dipswitch J5 to
ON".
It is (as always) a matter of knowing what is most appropriate for your
audience.
Nora
Senior Technical Writer, Charles Industries
nmerhar -at- charlesindustries -dot- com
> > On the one hand, your goal is to remove ambiguity. If you've ever
> > seen a ballerina turn on a music box, you know how turning on a
> > radio might be misinterpreted.
> >
> > On the other hand, you want to avoid any possibility of sexual
> > double entendre. Turning the radio on could be construed as
> > analogous to turning your date on.
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