RE: Something a little more useful than: RE: Pet Peeves

Subject: RE: Something a little more useful than: RE: Pet Peeves
From: "Steve Cavanaugh" <scavanaugh -at- nat-seattle -dot- com>
To: "Fred Ridder" <docudoc -at- hotmail -dot- com>, <athloi -at- yahoo -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:01:50 -0800

Fred, I'll add that even in the avionics industry, the rules and
priciples dictated by the ASD are difficult to implement. Instead of
saying "where possible, use it" I should have said simply to be aware of
it. The idea behind it is an idea that I think we all aspire to here,
namely that our readers comprehend our writing without fail.


Steve Cavanaugh
Sr. Technical Writer
NAT Seattle Inc.

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+scavanaugh=nat-seattle -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+scavanaugh=nat-seattle -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]
On Behalf Of Fred Ridder
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 9:57 AM
To: athloi -at- yahoo -dot- com; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Something a little more useful than: RE: Pet Peeves

You are putting words in my mouth. I was not expressing the
"sentiment...that we do not want to be required to write in a limited
language". I actually think that Simplified English (or something like
it) is entirely appropriate and necessary in the industry where it is
used because when you're dealing with aircraft, lives depend on clear
and unambiguous communication.

Steve's original posting about Simplified English urged us all to "where
possible, use it". Being aware that Simplified English is a very
specific subset of English for a specific industry (namely the aerospace
industry), this seemed like an over-broad recommendation. My only point
was that it is *not* a general purpose standard and that there will be
many situations where it is not appropriate or simply impossible to
adhere to its vocabulary and rules. The principles are good, but the
details are too specific.

Fred Ridder


>From: Chris Borokowski <athloi -at- yahoo -dot- com>
>To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>Subject: RE: Something a little more useful than: RE: Pet Peeves
>Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 10:36:40 -0700 (PDT)
>
>
>Good point. It shouldn't replace all English. But spoken English is a
>subset of Standard English, and breaks down into different dialects by
>region and nation and function. Plain Language and/or Simplified
>English is one standard.
>
>Your sentiment is one that many here will share, which is that we do
>not want to be required to write in a limited language. That's why the
>original poster recommended it as a resource, not a standard. I think.
>
>--- Fred Ridder <docudoc -at- hotmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> > One sentence stands out in that Wikipedia article you cite:
> >
> > "It [Simplified English] is not intended for use as a general
> > writing standard."

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