Re: Lingua Franca Today

[Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

I am sure you meant well, but I think it is inappropriate to be using
flowery language like "Lingua Franca" in a technical document. The point
of technical communications is not to demonstrate that you CAN use big
words, its to communicate complex ideas using SIMPLE language. 

> i use words like lingua franca because that's what we get paid to do. 

Maybe your company has different standards, but technical writers by an
large are not paid to inject flowery words into technical manuals. And I
am sorry, but "lingua franca" is pretty darn flowery. 

> like you, andrew, i tend to gear my writing toward the 
> particular client.

Well, maybe your client likes that kind of language. But the fact that 1
of 3 readers questioned your choice, shows that 1/3rd of your readers
didn't get it. Assuming you had 10,000 customers, a full 3000 of them
would have had the same problem. 

I don't know many firms that are willing to alienate 1/3 of their
customers so they can use flowery words. 

> i wrote: "routers speak  BGP to one another in order to move network 
> traffic without losing it."
> 
> perhaps it would be less confusing to you and others were i to write:
"in 
> order to move network traffic without losing it, routers speak BGP to on

> another."
> 
> or, "routers, in order to move network traffic without losing it, speak
BGP 
> to one another."
> i'm hard pressed to see how the first sentence conveys the notion that
BGP 
> moves information. 

The inaccuracy is one of nuance. The way you wrote it, it sounds like BGP
is moving traffic from here to there. It isn't. All BGP does is help
routers configure their routing tables so they CAN route traffic better.
The transport side of this is incidental. 

A more appropriate way to say this might be: 

"The border gateway protocol (BGP) is a critical component of the
Internet's routing infrastructure. It allows routers to exchange routing
information regardless of the router manufacturer. Using the BGP protocol,
routers can share "maps" of their network with other routers. This allows
for more efficient and error-free routing of network traffic." 

> It seems clear that the router moves information. 
> (context matters, of course. the preceding section contained a
discussion 
> of what routers are and do. they now know that routers move information.

> they are learning that BGP is a common language that helps routers from 
> different manufacturers move this information.)

> perhaps an ace sentence diagrammer could settle it? :)  i'm guessing
that, 
> like me, this isn't your strong suit since you confuse "your" for
"you're" 
> and "of" for "have".

This isn't a sentence diagramming problem, its a technical one. Flowery
language and dumbed-down text can obfuscate the complexities of
technologies. Either you teach people how things really work, or don't
teach them at all. 

Andrew Plato 

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