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.
Subject:Re: Style Guides? From:Don M Chaffee <dchaffee -at- WORLD -dot- STD -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 25 Jan 1994 03:19:35 GMT
Sarah Mahoney <smahoney -at- u -dot- washington -dot- edu> writes:
>> Don writes:
>> Except for terms of art and other recent vocabulary additions, bust your
>> butt to get a copy of Webster's Second Unabridged. It's The Big Dic. The
>> Third is heresy. Other dictionary publishers don't make it. Well, OK, the
>> OED is real useful, but not for modern American-English.
>>
>I read somewhere that the American Heritage Dictionary was the standard
>for technical writing. Thus I dutifully purchased a huge, heavy copy.
>Was I lead astray?
Nah. Frankly, they're all pretty good for one reason or another. But
writers are supposed to be somewhat eccentric, and all this blather is
just a pitiful attempt to further that myth.
What's standard is what you can get past the boss, or that ONE damned
engineer who thinks he or she is, among other things, God's gift to the
English language. FEH!
