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Subject:Re: Responsible use of `obviously' From:Doug Montalbano <D=Montalbano%GMP%Chiron -at- LARRY -dot- CHIRON -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 12 Oct 1993 14:08:27 PDT
Some of the replies on this topic have stirred up some of my own thinking on
the assumptions people make when communicating.
As one of the responders has pointed out, how we say things face to face is
quite different from the way we say things on paper. Rather than being
merely irritated by such little signals as "obviously" or (my fave bete
noire) "Clearly,", we should try to understand the intent of the communicator
and translate that intent into a more palatable form in the
written/wordprocessed text. This requires more work on our part to see the
work as a whole, the offending passage as a part of that whole, and the
personality and abilities of the communicator also as a part of that whole.
But then, again, I worry about these things a lot.
