Re: Gender-specific pronouns

Subject: Re: Gender-specific pronouns
From: Suzette Seveny <sseveny -at- PETVALU -dot- COM>
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 11:37:21 -0400

> That would work fine in situations relating solely to
> the reader. This problem comes up when I have to
> describe how the reader will interact with other
> people (the general manager, the production manager,
> the sales rep) and what the responses of these other
> people may or should be. For example:
>
> "If you have a technical emergency and your area's
> Technical Support Specialist is not available, leave a
> message describing the problem on their voice mail.
> If they do not return your call within 30 minutes,
> contact the Support Desk."

How about:

"...leave a voice mail message describing the problem. If your call is not
returned within 30 minutes..."

?

Suzette

>
> The reader would certainly notice (and most likely be
> distracted by it) if I were to use the phrase
> "Technical Support Specialist" three times within that
> short paragraph.

I agree. The point I tried to make on the list was that sometimes a straight
substitution was not a viable alternatives, and that re-wording the phrase
sometimes is the best solution.
>
> Otherwise, I use the second person when describing
> what the user will be doing with our software.

Makes it sound so much friendlier for the user :-)

Suzette


From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=



Previous by Author: Re: Gender-specific pronouns
Next by Author: Re: Have ye the will to use it, then?
Previous by Thread: Re: Gender-specific pronouns
Next by Thread: Re: Gender-specific pronouns


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads