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Kudos for the brilliant answer, Kyle! This is my perspective, as well.
I had already decided what to do with this minor dilemma prior to starting
this thread... I just thought it would be a fun techwr-l discussion and the
group didn't disappoint! Thanks to all for your valued thoughts.
BTW,
I hope you will soon learn to never criticize your significant other
(keeping this comment non-sexist). It is a lesson well worth learning for
achieving relationship harmony. :)
Take care,
Shawn
On Wed, Jul 30, 2014 at 9:07 AM, Kyle Simmons <kylesimmons0164 -at- gmail -dot- com>
wrote:
> I've seen what Shawn is talking about in multiple contexts. Recently, I was
> helping my girlfriend address some envelopes. My job was just to create a
> pattern for a banner and then draw the banner on all the envelopes (you
> know those scrolly banners that are popular with typography right now?).
> She was doing all the addressing, and I noticed that she was writing in all
> lowercase. Lowercase names. Lowercase street addresses. Lowercase state
> abbreviations. I was horrified. An envelope is a technical document, is it
> not? What if the mail carriers just can't even cope with this deviation?
> After she put me in my place for criticizing her work, I realized it was
> fine and the world would not explode. All of the letters arrived at their
> destinations promptly.
>
> Style can trump grammar. The question is whether it should, and the answer
> to that depends on context. I'm not sure this issue is one of grammar or
> style but more of design. Design should improve usability/user experience.
> Is having proper nouns in lowercase going to detract from the usability
> of the document? Does it really matter to the user? Remember we're also
> talking about a bulleted list. My thought is, "Who cares? Make that list
> look good."
>
>
>
--
*Shawn Connelly*
Technical writer
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