RE: Pitfalls of researching esoteric terminology

Subject: RE: Pitfalls of researching esoteric terminology
From: Kim Roper <kim -dot- roper -at- vitana -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 13:46:46 -0400


Ben Kovitz makes some good points when he says:

> The "order of magnitude" discussion illustrates a sneaky pitfall in
> researching esoteric terminology. If you look up definitions written
> by people who genuinely know and use the terms, they are often wrong.
>
> Most people just do not know how to make a definition. Most people
> are aware of that, but many people in science, engineering, and
> mathematics think they are good at framing definitions when they
> aren't.
>
Bottom line:

Words and phrases are defined by three things:

Denotation -- the dictionary definition
Connotation -- the implied meaning
Context -- the stuff going on in the vicinity

One of my tech writing instructors took great pains in stuffing this notion
into the class's heads, for which I am grateful. Consider the words "good"
and "bad":

Manager: Yes, the deadline is tomorrow, but we'll be renaming the product
this afternoon.
TW: Oh, *good*. [Rolls eyes]
Manager: Yeah, I agree. However, I managed to push this onto Marketing.
If they want the change, *they* can change the manuals.
TW: You are so *bad*! [Grins]

Can't rely on the Oxford to interpret that one :>

The instructor used examples with considerably more emotional impact. The
purpose was to show us that there is more behind common words than meets the
ear.

The same holds true for technical terms. Anyone care to define
"decimation"? My departed grandfather, who survived the Newfoundland
Regiment in WWI, could have given a rather graphic definition: Decrease the
size of something--like an infantry unit--to 10% of its original value in
one fell swoop. I've heard others use the term to mean "decrease something
_by_ 10%"

Neither definition holds true in digital imaging, which is where I use it.
The general idea of reduction by a particular factor still holds, but we're
dealing with a digital process now. The "decimal" shift--and I use the term
loosely--modifies quantities by a power of 2, not 10.

Looking at the root of the word "decimation", it's just plain inappropriate
in this context. We're not dealing with tens. However, the
connotation--the division factor attained by shifting a digit--is bang on.
So, we use it.

The challenges for the TW are
1) to understand the term, in context
2) to use it properly, in context
3) to determine when a documented explanation is warranted and when it would
be condescending--in other words, to know when your audience understands the
term implicitly and when you need to clarify it.

I added a brief explanation of "decimation" to our manuals, not because I
thought the users wouldn't understand the term, but because I thought the
process (not the term) was ambiguous enough to merit a precise definition
for the purposes of coding.

Cheers ... Kim
kim.roper at vitana.com
http://www.pixelink.com/

Technical writers have a way with Word.


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