Re: Shakespearean Techncial Writing

Subject: Re: Shakespearean Techncial Writing
From: SEnglish -at- MICROS -dot- COM
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 10:52:47 -0400

I'm sure Geoff has heard this more than a few times by now, but the
metaphor example is actually a simile. A metaphor would read more
like, "the trash can on the Mac desktop is a purgatory to which the
souls of dead files are sent, from there to be resurrected or
consigned forever to the flames".

But that's really a minor quibble. My major objection in this thread
is to those who agree that as technical writers we don't use rhyme,
etc. To which I replies, "Sez who?" I once had to write a set of
instructions for restaurant employees who regularly worked a
complicated catering event. Earlier attempts at manuals had been
inconsistently read and indifferently followed. The manual I delivered
was patterned on (okay, a blatant ripoff of) Dr. Seuss' "One Fish, Two
Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish". The staff spent so much time laughing at
it and making fun of it that they "accidentally" learned the material.
Anyone who didn't follow procedures could count on those around him to
chant the relevant verse, and avoiding this kind of agony quickly
became a major motivation for employees to learn the material.

Would I use rhyme regularly in technical writing? Of course not, no more
than I would always allow an allotment of alliteration to alight. What I
*would* do is assess the audience first, and *then* decide which tools
in the box were right for the task. That means not ruling out metaphor,
foreshadowing, rhyme, meter, alliteration, or even fortuitous
circumstance if it gets the job done.

Steve English
MICROS Systems, Inc.


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