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I think the New Oxford Guide editors should go back to Orwell's
"Politics and the English Language" and dispense with words such as
"concision" altogether. But I have no wish to start a dictionary or
style skirmish. This was, as I said, just a good-natured tweak.
Best,
Jim
-----Original Message-----
From: Odile Sullivan-Tarazi [mailto:odile -at- mindspring -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 9:46 AM
To: Pinkham, Jim
Cc: Cardimon, Craig; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Concision?
No, I think he meant "concision," a more precise (and concise) word than
"conciseness."
See, for instance, _The New Oxford Guide to Writing_ or _Style:
Toward Clarity and Grace, the latter of which devotes an entire chapter
to concision.
Odile
At 8:40 AM -0500 10/29/08, Pinkham, Jim wrote:
>"Concision," huh? I thought you meant "conciseness," and I had to go
>look the two up.
>
>Merriam-Webster dates "concision" back to the 14th century, but its
>first listed rendering is archaic, "a cutting up or off," and then the
>second rendering, of indeterminate origin, gets at conciseness.
>"Conciseness," on the other hand, dates to around 1590 and has the
>definition I suspect you meant: "marked by brevity of expression or
>statement."
>
>So accurate, brief, clear -- that's what we value. Hmm...and someone
>just suggested law?? :)
>
>OK, enough tweaking...back to work.
>
>Respectfully,
>Jim
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
>Behalf Of Cardimon, Craig
>Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 8:15 AM
>To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>Subject: RE: Career transition away from tech writing
>
>> I'm thinking about leaving the field of technical writing and I'm
very
>
>> interested in learning about the jobs other technical writers have
>> transitioned to. Project management, training, and user experience
>seem
>> to be the more common transitions, but are there other areas you may
>> have ventured into?
>>
>> Thank you.
>
>I would bet this comes up more often than one might think. How about
any
>field that values concision, clarity, and precision. To these I add
>attention to detail and the ability to organize one's thoughts.
>
>Craig
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