TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Instructions for Stupid People (and litigation) From:Randy Allen Harris <raha -at- WATARTS -dot- UWATERLOO -dot- CA> Date:Thu, 20 Jan 1994 14:06:41 -0500
I don't know the exact phrasing of the resulting message, but the story
goes like this:
A Maine farmer who wanted to work on his barn roof in October put a ladder
up against the side of the barn first thing in the morning, placing one leg
in a frozen cow-pie. Yes, that's right. When he came down at lunch time,
the pie had thawed out and become a pudding, the ladder skidded off, he
collapsed, broke something important, and sued the ladder company,
successfully, for lots of cash. Now the ladder company has a warning about
frozen cow plops.
(This may be myth, but my recollection is of seeing the report as part of a
story about loopy litigation successes on _Sixty Minutes_.)
-------======= * =======-------
Randy Allen Harris
raha -at- watarts -dot- uwaterloo -dot- ca
Rhetoric and Professional Writing, Department of English, University of
Waterloo, Waterloo ON N2L 3G1, CANADA; 519 885-1211, x5362; FAX: 519 884-8995
