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Subject:Re: Humor in Technical Writing REVISITED From:SteveFJong -at- aol -dot- com To:TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Fri, 6 Oct 2000 06:55:36 EDT
Sandy Harris <sandy -at- storm -dot- ca> wrote, "someone in another discussion I was in
claimed there was a text on English grammar [t]hat mentioned Dan Quayle only
in the index.
The index entry for him pointed to a page discussing complements of the verb
'to be' which had the examples:
He is stupid. (adjectival complement)
He is a republican. (noun phrase)
He is from Indiana. (prepositional phrase)"
The polls tell us over forty percent of a US audience will find this
offensive. (Heck, I'm a two-time Clinton voter and likely Gore voter and
*I'm* offended!) This strikes me as a textbook example, literally, of why
humor in technical writing is misguided.
-- Steve (who is well aware of how easily could be constructed an
example equally offensive to those of the other persuasion)
Steven Jong, Documentation Team Manager (Typo? What tpyo?)
Lightbridge, Inc., 67 South Bedford St., Burlington, MA 01803 USA mailto:jong -at- lightbridge -dot- com -dot- nospam 781.359.4902 [voice]
Home Sweet Homepage: http://members.aol.com/SteveFJong
