Re: [Re: Lingua Franca Today]

[Hannah <to -dot- hannah -at- usa -dot- net>]

Stan Schwartz <stanz -at- cam -dot- org> wrote:
> <andrew's original quotes snipped for space>
> 
> ...
> 
> >Andrew Plato
> 
> Andrew,
> I don't understand something. What's the difference? 'Geek speek' 
> won't affect the reader's attention adversely but 'flowery language' 
> will? I see some similarity here in the argument. You appearto me to 
> be defending both sides of the argument. What has changed in that 
> time?
> 	s
> 
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Stan,

Not to speak for Andrew (he does a fine job all by his lonesome), but I see a
big difference between the two. The 'Geek speek' mentioned is directed at
educating an audience. I would assume that means using terms and working their
definitions into the content in some way, shape, or form that enables them to
understand the subject and learn the new term (and further empower the person
to better understand a certain aspect of their field). 'Flowery language' will
not (directly) assist the reader in their field. All it will do, after it
distracts them and makes them try to decipher its meaning as it is not
generally used with contextual explainations, is give them flowery vocabulary.
I see this as a matter of whether or not the benefit of including the
unfamiliar term will outweigh the negatives. Personally, I would see 'Geek
speek' as more of a benefit than the negative of making the reader learn. I
would also make sure the terms used are clearly explained in the context so
the reader would not have to look anything up. This is usually easy to do in
technical documents. I would see 'Flowery language' as providing no benefit to
the reader, probably would cause the reader to look up the word (whether it be
in a side bar or wherever), and not easily worked into a technical document's
context.

hannah Bissell
to -dot- hannah -at- usa -dot- net


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