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Using the second person (was: Humor as a communication technique)
Subject:Using the second person (was: Humor as a communication technique) From:Hope Cascio <hope -dot- d -dot- cascio -at- US -dot- ARTHURANDERSEN -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 16 Jun 1998 13:42:10 -0400
I see this as a different issue. You can use "you" instead of "the user"
and still be polite, not "chummy." We use "you" throughout our
documentation, and trust me, accountants are not, as a group, people who
appreciate a touchy-feely funny happy doc set. I'd argue for using the
second person for readability, not tone.
(emptying the change from my pockets today!)
Hope Cascio
To: TECHWR-L @ LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU
cc: (bcc: Hope D. Cascio)
From: Debbie Figus <debbief -at- NETVISION -dot- NET -dot- IL>
Date: 06/16/98 12:33 PM
Subject: Humor as a communication technique
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Gord Deyo <DeyoG -at- ITLS -dot- COM> wrote:
>I could imagine what my manager would do to me after handing in our
>procedures interlaced with one-liners and cartoons. Maybe Microsoft
>would hire me. ...
Gordo?s post made me smile.
Recently I tried to defend using ?you? instead of ?the user? to the
hardware engineering manager here. In the course of the conversation, with
me talking about contemporary style, etc., he said to me, ?We aren?t
Microsoft.? I got the point.
The discussion of humor in technical communications seems to be more
relevant to writers for ?user friendly? kinds of products, maybe like some
software applications or training materials. I work mostly on hardware
manuals for avionic communications boards. My goal is clear, logical
explanations of highly complex information, among other things, of course.
I will add, though, that the ?... for Dummies? books are quite pleasant to
read through, obviously due to all that humor. So it does have its place,
it seems.
