Re: Alternative word for "execute"

[Tracy Boyington <tboyi -at- OKVOTECH -dot- ORG>]

> She encouraged us to find a replacement for the word "execution" that means
> the running of a routine or a program.
>
> Her reasons, as I remember them, were:

Changing a word that's used throughout the industry just because one
person (even if she is a technical editor) doesn't _like_ it is a bad idea.
And that's what it sounds like she's doing, because...

> 1. Internationalization: One word should have one meaning, and execution
> means the putting to death of a human being by the state as a penalty for
> certain crimes

If she speaks English, she should know one word often does NOT have
one meaning. If your readers speak English, they also know this. If the
document is being translated, the translator will know and will pick
a word that means "run" and not "punish by putting to death"
(and if they don't, you've got the wrong translator!)

> 2. Clarity: the other meaning of execute actually puts a stop to something
> (a life), so using execution to mean "carrying out" or "running" sounds a
> bit confusing. (For this reason that I never use the word "sanction", which
> has two diametrically opposed meanings).

But put it in context. Are your users complete novices? If not,
they probably understand the word "execute" to mean "run." If it's
not clear to your readers (do some tests to find out), change it. But
if they're fairly computer literate, chances are there are no clarity
problems on the user end. I've never seen the word "execute" used to
mean "put a stop to something" -- to kill a person, yes, but not to
"put a stop" to anything other than a life.

> Now while most of these substitutions work, I'm up against some difficult
> sentences in the REXXWARE Programmer's Guide:
>
> " COMPILE:  This function compiles a specified file containing REXXWARE
> source code and creates a computed version of the file in an executable
> format (.NPC). "

This is why you should seriously reconsider making this change.
Executable is the right word to use in this sentence. Sure, somebody
will think of some other word you can plug in there, but will it make
this sentence any clearer? Probably not. It will probably make it
less clear, because the reader will have to figure out that you
really mean "executable."

They even call them .EXE files...
Tracy

==========================================================
Tracy Boyington   tracy_boyington -at- okvotech -dot- org
Oklahoma Department of Vocational & Technical Education
Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA
http://www.okvotech.org/cimc/home.htm

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