Re: In love with a word

Subject: Re: In love with a word
From: Al Geist <al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>
To: "List,Techwriter" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 04 Jan 2006 11:52:05 -0500

John Posada wrote:

I just inherited some content from a previous writer. I'd never seen
a situation where a writer seemed to be in love with a word,
especially when it is an inappropriate word (or at least an
inappropriate use of the word).
I had the same thing at a previous position. The VP of Engineering decided that he and a firmware developer could write their own Help and thus save the company money. The end result was a bloated non usable Help festering with words like "amongst" and "utilize(d)." When I took it upon myself to edit a section and clean up the text, my efforts were met with "we'd like to do this, but we don't want to destroy the flavor of what we have...." and "besides they sound better than among or use(d)." Idiots.... They used to drive me up a friggin wall until I decided to ignore their ignorance. No use getting yourself tied up in knots over something you can't control.

Last time I checked, they still have that same flavor Help and it's still littered with inappropriate words and it still causes more confusion than help. Moral of the story, you'll probably never get the original author to change those bad habits, so make a note to be on the lookout for those words whenever you edit their work.

--

Al Geist, Geist Associates
Technical Writing, Online Help, Marketing Collateral, Web Design, Award Winning Videos, Professional Photography
Office: 802-658-3140

Cell: 505-400-4128
E-mail: al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com <mailto:al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>
URL: www.geistassociates.com <http://www.geistassociates.com> (online portfolio/resume)

See also:
URL: www.geistimages.com <http://www.geistimages.com> (fine art prints for home or office and note cards for all occasions)

"When the situation is absolutely hopeless, you have nothing to worry about."
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References:
In love with a word: From: John Posada

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