TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Plagiarizing is generally considered to be lifting large amounts of text from
someone else's writing. A word or phrase copied is imitation. How do you
think we ended up with thousands of people (hundreds of thousands?) going
around saying, "where's the beef?" or "get a life"??? If we can use it to
perpetuate meaningless throwaways, isn't it much more important and useful to
use imitation to perpetuate something really concise and cogent???
BJ
Debbie Figus wrote:
> Let's say you're looking at some other companies' manuals,
> and you see a particular wording or phrasing that's simply
> well written. Can you use it in your manual, or do you
> have to go around the block to come up with your own
> wording, just so that you're not plagiarizing?
>