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Re: Turn on / off - Switch on / off - Start up / Shut off etc
Subject:Re: Turn on / off - Switch on / off - Start up / Shut off etc From:"Ned Bedinger" <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 7 Dec 2004 07:22:13 -0800
>From: "Broberg, Mats" <mabr -at- flir -dot- se>
>To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
>Sent: Thursday, November 25, 2004 7:26 AM
>Subject: Turn on / off - Switch on / off - Start up / Shut off etc
>
>
>Dear listmembers,
>
>Any suggestions for a clear and unambigious term for "energizing" /
>"de-energizing" a piece of equipment?
I perceive "energize" as a little bit exotic--I think it is more typical in
documentation from European manufacturers. To me, that could make it a good
choice for a controlled term, because it doesn't have a lot of connotative
baggage from other contexts, at least in my American English. It does seem
to be used a lot in advertising campaigns touting nutritional supplements,
but it is not obviously the wrong word choice for equipment contexts. It
might evoke a sublime sense of invigorating the equipment or restoring it to
health and vitality, but let's face it: when "analysis paralysis" rears its
head, things don't get completed on deadline.
How about "cycle", meaning "use the power switch to reset the equipment."
It appears in service and troubleshooting contexts (and maybe in owner
manuals, though I've never seen it) as a technique for re-initializing
equipment, especially with equipment that performs some sort of boot or
power-on sequence (self-tests, for example). I acquired the word 20 years
ago as a student of office machine repair, and I don't know but there may
have been some drift of meaning--I have seen it used in manuals by
non-native English speakers to simply mean "operate a switch" , instead of
"power off, then on", but I suspect that this is an artifact of translation
or an author with few English Edition manuals to draw from.
If 'cycle' is the word you need, please, have it with my complements.
That was an interesting piece you did, reviving the literal origins of the
various switch operating descriptions. As noted, the correct way to operate
a switch does depend on the type of switch. These distinctions would be
helpful in a mixed switch bank, because they would provide the user with
some confirmation that the right switch is selected.
Thanks for the pointers to controlled vocabularies.
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