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In _Intercom_ for Sept/Oct 1999, Don Bush's column "The Friendly Editor"
argues against too strict a consistency.
The column was prompted by a discussion in which technical communicators
agreed with a speaker who said, "It is better to be consistently wrong than
not to be consistent."
In the column, Don Bush set up two precepts of consistency:
1. Things should have one _name_ only.
2. Words should have one _meaning_ only.
Then he said, "We all know that nomenclature should not change in
midstream."
"But you can't apply Precept 1 widely without opening a major rift between
_technical_ writing and _good_ writing. Good writers learn to use verbal
variety, moving gracefully from _equipment_ to _device_ to _object_ to
_item_ to a simple _it_."
Mr. Bush also argued that localization concerns are better handled by good
editors and translators than by restrictions on good writing.
Jim Shaeffer
jims -at- spsi -dot- com
(Note: Obviously, my quotes are out of context. My online searches at the
STC site have failed to locate this article.)
