Re: Master/Slave

[Iain Harrison <iharrison -at- SCT -dot- CO -dot- UK>]

Bob Morrisette <Robert -dot- Morrisette -at- ENG -dot- SUN -dot- COM> wrote:

>>
I cannot believe this discussion.

>>Robert Plamondon was right when he posted a long time ago:
>>
>>    ^
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>>      NUMBER OF POSTINGS

Bob Morrisette
writer1 -at- sabu -dot- Eng -dot- sun -dot- com
<<

Well, that's your opinion. There is another view. There is a good
argument for saying that using words and phrases that offend some
people, or that carry unintended associations, is far more important
that whether cross-references are easy in .pdf files.

Similarly, there is good deal of importance in being wary of the
political correctness that removes clear, descriptive terms that have
no suitable equivalent.

Master/slave disk drives are precisely that: master and slave. You may
find discussion of the pros and cons of such terminology trivial, but
this is an example of what is probably the most important issue in
technical writing: the words we use.

Personally, I prefer not to call a spade a soil rearrangement tool,
and do not want to be left on the pointed crainial protuberances of a
dilemma. Once you start down the slippery slope of letting words
become totally unacceptable because of misundertanding of their
meaning, you won't have a lower limb to stand on when everyday words
come under attack. On the other upper limb end, it is vital to realise
that some people can be offended by seemingly innocuous words,
partcularly ones even vaguely related to race and gender issues.

As far as I am concerned, the relative merits of different software
packages, or chapter meetings in Hicksville are infinitely less
relevant that the fundamental issue of the technical and other words
used by technical writers.

Further discussion of theis issue is welcome on the TechComm list. For
details of the list, see http://www.hairydog.clara.net/techcomm.html
or email me for details.

Iain Harrison
iharrison -at- sct -dot- co -dot- uk
iain -at- hairydog -dot- clara -dot- net

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