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.
> Many of my friends and peers are very bright and have interesting
> vocabularies, but pay not attention to how they use words. If you're
> going to use a word make sure a) you know how to spell it and b) you
> know what it really means and when it's appropriate to use. If you do
> not know how to spell or apply a word, either don't use the word, or
> look it up.
Sounds like we have similar peeves.
What drives me crazy is people using unnecessarily fancy terms in
an apparent effort to sound cool, getting them wrong and sounding
like idiots.
Typical examples are using "negative reinforcement" for "punishment"
or "negative feedback" for "criticism". If you don't know enough about
Skinnerian learning theory or cybernetics respectively to recognise
that both are nonsense, then why on Earth are you using terms from
those theories?
I also gnash my teeth, and sometimes email editors, when reporters
bungle by saying a politician "refuted" a corruption charge when all
he did was deny it. The difference may be impostant!
--
Sandy Harris
Zhuhai, Guangdong, China
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today!. http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
