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Subject:Words for People From:"Parks, Beverly" <ParksB -at- EMH1 -dot- HQISEC -dot- ARMY -dot- MIL> Date:Thu, 30 Jan 1997 14:40:37 -0700
Simple question: What is the preferred word to use when referring to a
single person?
I'm writing online help for a system that has a labor accounting
portion. The word "personnel" is used a lot to refer to all employees as
a whole, so when possible I use "person" to refer to a single
individual. However, sometimes "person" doesn't quite fit. I've been
using "individual", but all of a sudden it doesn't look right and I'm
thinking "employee" may be better. I think I've just been looking at it
too long! Here's a sample sentence:
"The Summary tab displays a breakdown of an individual's total hours by
labor category, project, and deliverable."
Would you use "individual" or "employee" here? If this is so minor that
you think I must be crazy, tell me that, too. 8-)
Bev
parksb -at- emh1 -dot- hqisec -dot- army -dot- mil
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