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During the past few days there has been some
discussion of whether "daisy chain" or "jumper" could
be used as verbs. Some opined that since these are
commonly used as such in the electronics industry, we
should write for the audience and not necessarily
according to dictionary usage.
IMHO that would be fine, if we are only writing for a
strictly American audience. Other countries have
differing usage--and if the material is to be
translated, it is very difficult for us to know what a
translator will make of strictly American usage.
The problem is even worse where computer translating
enters the picture.
To give one example of British usage vs. American
usage is the word "billion." In the U.S., a billion is
one thousand million, while in Britain a billion is
one million million.
Likewise, punctuation can be difficult. Again, a
simple example: $1,395 is thirteen hundred ninety five
dollars in the U.S. and one dollar and three hundred
ninety five thousandths in many other parts of the
world.
Since the products we document may well be used
worldwide, I suggest we should think about avoiding
terms which may be misconstrued when the documentation
is being localized.
(Sigh, it's never easy, is it?)
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