Re: asserted, de-asserted

["Race, Paul" <pdr -at- CCSPO -dot- DAYTONOH -dot- NCR -dot- COM>]

Marsha asked about de-asserted and Paul -dot- d -dot- Race -at- daytonoh -dot- ncr -dot- com responded:

I love it.  "De-asserted" has a certain charm, don't you think?  Do these
people intend for anyone outside their little club to read and understand
these materials?  If so, then the ingrown jargon they use on the skunk-works
floor can't be shoe-horned into the manuals just because two or three guys
know what it means.

Technical jargon is one thing.  When you document a broad, highly technical
field like networking, it's hard to avoid completely, and if you do, the
technically-oriented people who read your documents will assume you know
nothing about the subject matter.  I tread a tightrope sometimes, getting
docs reviewed by non-technical writers who write "define your terms" next to
every industry-standard term, and then by technical people who insist on
using the current nickname for a tool, piece of equipment, or process.

But jargon that exists only on the third floor of building G (or wherever)
has no place in documents (manuals, user guides, reference docs, patent
applications, contracts, anything) meant for use outside that floor.

Tell them to find one example of the use of the word in a professional
publication or trade mag and you'll re-consider.

Still, what a shame to lose such a fine, intuitively informative term....
:-)

"I know I promised my wife I'd take the kids to their soccer game tonight,
but a big crisis came up so I called her and de-asserted it."

:-)
 ----------
From: TECHWR-L
To: Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L
Subject: asserted, de-asserted
Date: Wednesday, October 26, 1994 12:18PM

Friends,

The engineers here use asserted and de-asserted to describe
what happens to certain signals.

I am fighting the use of the word de-asserted.

Am I wrong? Have you encountered these words?

Help!

Marsha
cmawta -at- taux01 -dot- nsc -dot- com