The word "documentation" -Reply

[Lisa Comeau <COMEAUL -at- CSA -dot- CA>]

>>> Mark Dempsey wrote:
>Websters' first (and most applicable) definition for "documentation" is
>this: "the act or an instance of furnishing or authenticating with
>documents."

>It's always annoyed me that this perfectly good noun has also been >used to described manuals, guides, etc.

<G> But a noun is "a person, place, or thing", so by definition, you've just disagreed with yourself by calling it a "perfectly good noun" <G>

But seriously, folks;
Over time, many words become overused, and obtain different meanings depending on the circumstances of their use. This is a perfect example.

There are several verbs that have become nouns and so on. That's what makes English a crazy, mixed up, hard-to-learn, incredibly diverse language.

Personally, I find it incredibly annoying that the word "Kleenex" (which is a *product name* ) has become a noun. How often do you actually say "Excuse me, Ma'am, do you happen to have an extra facial tissue in your purse?"

As the technology and nature of our work changes, so will the language we use to describe it. So I guess, just like we all had to get used to the acronyms that stand for four or five different things, and the technical jargon that has several  meanings, we'll all just have to DWIAMO.

By the way...
 I think this all started when people decided to be "politically correct". That's when a janitor became a "sanitation engineer" and a paper pusher became a "documentation manager", and short people became "vertically challenged", and overweight people became "metabolocally insufficient", and deceased people became "oxygen-intake impaired"...I think that's where it came from... but what do I know? I just work here...

Lisa Comeau
IS Super-User/Trainer
Canadian Standards Association
comeaul -at- csa -dot- ca
"Let me drop everything and work on *your* problem."
The immortal words of Dogbert