Re: Correct Wording for Examples (#932777)

Subject: Re: Correct Wording for Examples (#932777)
From: "Kenney, Stephen" <stephen -dot- kenney -at- EXCH -dot- EDS -dot- COM>
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 1996 08:45:03 -0600

some more change on this...

I work for a huge information services company, and it is our policy to
avoid these Latin terms in all cases...

>----------
>From: wburns -at- MICRON -dot- COM[SMTP:wburns -at- MICRON -dot- COM]
>Sent: Monday, November 25, 1996 6:40 AM
>To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>Subject: Re: Correct Wording for Examples (#932777)

>Elna responds,

>>No, it is NOT correct to avoid using these abbreviations, which are in
>>wide use in the non-technical audience.
>>
>>If you're getting static from a technical reviewer on this, point out
>>that most users generally know what e.g. and i.e. mean. If you have
>>doubts about the literacy levels of your user, you can spell them out.
>>

>Hmmm. This position flouts most of what I've read in technical writing style
>guides. In fact, I work in a technical environment in which both of these
>abbreviations are misused consistently. Very few of these folks know the
>Latin
>for these abbreviations, and too many pick up the bad habits of writers who
>use
>the initialisms indiscriminantly. Perhaps it's not that big an issue when an
>experienced operator or technician running a machine comes across these
>initialisms in a simple procedure, but it could definitely be an issue if, in
>a
>safety document, someone confuses the two terms and we wind up in a lawsuit
>because of the misunderstanding. I'll stick with "that is" and "for example."

>Bill Burns
>Assembly Documentation Supervisor
>wburns -at- micron -dot- com
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