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Among the many interesting comments on the master/slave etc. thread, let me
pull out this:
>I'm not about to try to change the terminology of an industry - that
>would be even more expensive.
Word choices are not only our stock in trade but our responsibility as
writers (technical or otherwise). If the terminology of an industry needs
to be changed, why shouldn't we try? Many computer terms, coined by folks
whose personal literature perhaps consisted of comic books and the Sunday
funnies, are hardly user-friendly. I suppose that if they had had an
inkling of how widespread usage of these terms would be, they might have
given it more thought. Maybe there's some esoteric etymology of which I'm
not aware, but for example, why would *anyone* want to "finger" anyone else
to see who they are online?
Mark Twain: "The difference between the right word and the wrong word is
the difference between lightning and lightning bug."
I've been battling developers for weeks now about the choice of words to
describe related documents in one of our products. They want to call them
"root", "child" and "sibling". Our user base consists of middle-aged people
with moderate computer skills who are "largely distrustful of technology".
Do I think they'll be comfortable with root, child and sibling documents?
Unh-unh. It's become an "over my dead body" issue. And I will win.
The power of words is widely acknowledged. We tend to give shorthand or
"off the tops of our heads" names to things while in development, but we
also must realize the subtle and lingering impact of using words that
aren't quite right. "Close" isn't good enough, especially when there are so
many good words to choose from!
As techwriters, these are the trenches in which we fight. I think it's
worth it.
Beth Agnew
Senior Technical Writer, InSystems Technologies Inc.
65 Allstate Parkway, Suite 100
Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R 9X1 mailto:bagnew -at- insystems -dot- com Tel: (905) 513-1400 ext. 280
Fax: (905) 513-1419
Visit us at: http://www.insystems.com
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