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Subject:Re: "See" and "Utilize" -Reply From:Kent Newton <KentN -at- METRIX-INC -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 16 Feb 1996 13:17:00 PST
On Thursday, February 15, 1996 5:23 PM, Bill Sullivan wrote:
>Kathy Fisher (thank you, Kathy) writes: If I see the word "see" used
>ONE MORE TIME in documentation to reference another document I'm
>gonna lose my lunch! We "see" with our eyes. We "refer" to a
>document.
>I say: Nah, come on, lighten up, Kathy. See is but English for vide
>(VEEday), the Latin imperative meaning "see," which is what polite
>scholars used to tell each other to do when referencing. "Refer to"
>is needlessly throwing ink around, like saying "utilize" when "use"
>would do.
In my writing, I use "see" when I am directing readers to an associated
topic in the same chapter.
I use "refer to" when I am directing readers to an associated topic in a
different chapter or manual.
Kent Newton
Senior Technical Writer
Metrix, Inc.
kentn -at- metrix-inc -dot- com
