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Subject:Re: "Proper use of commas in England?" From:"Colleen Dancer (02) 333-1862" <DANCER -dot- COLLEEN -at- A2 -dot- ABC -dot- NET -dot- AU> Date:Fri, 1 Dec 1995 16:07:00 +1100
I agree that in Australia like England we don't use the serial comma
unless necessary to remove ambiguity. However what will annoy your
audience far far more is the use of American spelling. I know I detest
it in manuals that I buy in Australia. I feel that if the product is
going to be sold in Australia / England they can use the Queen's
English. I would suggest that you can probably use your discretion for
the comma, but DEFINITELY use the correct spelling for the audience.
In fact my opinion long before I became a technical communicator was that
if they didn't use the correct spelling then either they were
incompetent or didn't care about the audience. Both great reasons not to
buy the product. This has mellowed (lots <g>) but I still hate the
americanised spellings in a manual for OZ.
Colleen Dancer
dancer -dot- colleen -at- a2 -dot- abc -dot- net -dot- au
