RE: What kind of position is a polysyllabilist ?

["Lauren" <lauren -at- writeco -dot- net>]

> From: Lech Rzedzicki

> I have exchanged emails with a person who seems to have "senior
> polysyllabilist" as a job title.

> Sounds very elaborate, like a person, who is able to pronounce
> multi-syllable words with no effort at all.

A polysyllabilist is a "sesquipedalian." <tee hee>

I call myself a documentationalist for fun.  I've also held the title of
Chief Human Interface Engineer.  That's when I engineered web applications
that ran on a MySQL database.

My guess, is that "polysyllabilist" is somebody who can use words with more
than one syllable, but I saw it used to describe William F. Buckley Jr. in
my search of the word.  It seems like the term is applied to people who use
unnecessarily large words, which is not a good thing for a technical writer.

Here's a discussion about the word,
http://wordsmith.org/board/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/69/page/349.
 
> Any other insights?
> Is this a method to avoid the payscale ceiling for Information
> Develeopers?technical Writers?

Not likely.

I would try to email that person with a message composed entirely of
monosyllabic expressions and see if the polysyllabilist notices the joke.
Really, I think that it would be harder to write that message than to write
one with multiple syllables.

Lauren


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or 
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007 
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.