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On Fri, 6 Jun 1997 08:30:34 EST
Melissa Hunter-Kilmer <mhunterk -at- BNA -dot- COM> wrote:
>A friend of mine who indexes writes:
>
>Jokes in an index is one of those things that sends professional
>indexers wild. Indexing is an honorable profession where jokes
>have no place. In fact, humor and indexing and indexers is an
>oxymoron. I know. I am an indexer and am really boring.
>
>Indexers whine about this a lot. The consensus is, of course,
>that jokes do not belong (though some farside books have indexes,
>as part of the book humor) and anyone who puts one in an index
>should be stoned (as stoned to death, not the 60s connotation).
And I think that humorless people, be they undertakers or
professional surfers, should be viciously lampooned in public.
It is my considered opinion that there are far too many of
them in our profession.
When I am asked what a technical writer does I tell people,
"You know those computer software manuals and help files that
you never read, and can't understand when you do? I write those."
Please, write to me and tell me how terrible it is that "one
of our own" should demean the profession in that way. It's Friday,
and I need a good laugh. And I'll only make fun of you to a few
people in the office, I promise.
_______________ _____
/ ___ __/__\ \ / / _\ Steve Fouts stefou -at- eskimo -dot- com
/___ \| | ___\ | / __\ "The best time for planning a book
/ / \ | \ / \ is while you are doing dishes."
/_______/__|_______\_/________\ -- Agatha Christie
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