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Re: It's too early for this: why marketing people shouldn't write docs
Subject:Re: It's too early for this: why marketing people shouldn't write docs From:Kevin Cheek <cheek1 -at- sbcglobal -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 17 Sep 2003 10:18:36 -0700 (PDT)
This strikes me as perhaps a translation issue. For example, I have
been told that in certain Asian cultures, it is inappropriate to use
the imperative tone in writing. Perhaps this is an instance where in
the original language, the tone was polite and formal, yet when
translated to English becomes uselessly vague.
My favorite example of this was the instructions for switching a 1982
Toyota pickup truck into four-wheel drive (reconstructed from
memory):
"When shifting to four wheel drive
the vehicle stops or slows below 5MPH"
It took me the longest time to understand that that was an
instruction, not an observation.
Of course, if Chuck's grid control doc was originally written in
English, it could just be an example of the incompetence for which
Goober keeps telling us life is to short.
-Kevin Cheek
cheek1 -at- sbcglobal -dot- net
--- Chuck Martin <cm -at- writeforyou -dot- com> wrote:
>
> The grid control works that way consistently and appropriately.
> "May" was also used to describe several other manipulations as
> well. If it doesn't work, it's because something broke in the
> program, not because there is some condition that may occur
> where it would not operate that way.
> > "Clicking and dragging on the right border of the column header
> > may change column widths."
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