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Subject:Re: The word "documentation" From:"Wilcox, John (WWC, Contractor)" <wilcoxj -at- WDNI -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 23 Jun 1998 12:55:32 -0700
> ----------
> From: Mark Dempsey[SMTP:mxd2 -at- OSI -dot- COM]
>
> 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. "Documentation" is the *act* of
> writing manuals, according to Websters, not the manuals themselves.
>
> I write to see if you'll at least hesitate before calling the product
> of
> your efforts the "d" word, and call them "manuals" or "guides." It'd
> be
> just one less annoying thing in this world, for me at least...
>
As you noted, it means "an instance" as well as "the act" -- thus it's
perfectly OK to call a manual documentation as well as to refer to its
writing as documentation.
Now if you really want something to get annoyed over, look up virtual.
Regards,
John Wilcox, Documentation Specialist
Timberlands Information Services, Application Delivery Group
Weyerhaeuser, WWC 2E2, Box 2999
Tacoma, WA 98477-2999 USA
253-924-7972 mailto:wilcoxj -at- wdni -dot- com
(I don't speak for Weyerhaeuser, and they return the favor.)
