I had say it because I was afraid no one else would?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Collin reports: <<"Why tech writers use so much jargon, I don't know.  
Maybe it's self-aggrandizement; they want to lord their knowledge over  
everybody else. Maybe it's laziness; they can't be bothered to fish  
for a plain-English word. Maybe it's just habit; they spend all day  
talking shop with other nerds, so they slip into technospeak when they  
write for larger audiences." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/technology/personaltech/16pogue-email.html?_r=4&8cir=&oref=slogin&emc=cira1&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin 
 >>

I'd wonder whether this is true of all the docs he reads, or just for  
the large proportion that are not actually created by techwhirlers  
like us. It's certainly true that a large proportion of the materials  
I see coming across my desk are written by amateurs with no training  
or expertise in the subject, including a great many engineers who are  
forced to write in their second or third language because their  
employer is too cheap to hire a translator.

That being said, it's also true that some of us need a bit more  
practice remembering our audience's needs. It's also true that some of  
what we're documenting is inherently technical, and you can't describe  
it without using jargon appropriately.

--------------------------------------------------------
Geoff Hart (www.geoff-hart.com)
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
--------------------------------------------------------
***Now available***  _Effective onscreen editing_
(http://www.geoff-hart.com/books/eoe/onscreen-book.htm)

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