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Subject:Re(2): Technical name for the #? From:Doug Nickerson <Doug_Nickerson -at- ONSETCOMP -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 23 Nov 1998 13:49:57 -0500
Beth: bagnew -at- INSYSTEMS -dot- COM,Internet writes:
>But why not use it as a knowledge transmission
>opportunity, instead of just an information transmission one? If =
>appropriate
>for the design of your publication, you could include a parenthetical =
>phrase
>such as (also called an "octothorpe" or "number sign") or a small =
>callout
>box with the symbol and its synonyms.=20
I agree that you could use the 'common' term and
elaborate in the text if it may be unclear. Isn't this similar to the
common practice of
spelling out acronyms the first time you use them followed by the
acronym in parenthesis?
But this 'knowledge transmission' : Isn't it dangerously close to
educating the
reader? And if you educate the reader beyond what he/she needs to
know to run the machine, aren't you being discriminatory -- using
your own discrimination about what the reader should know? :-)
Kind of an Easter Egg: Type octothorpe in your copy of WORD 97 and spell
check it. My copy
says "Not in dictionary."
Doug Nickerson
Bourne, MA.
Programmer/author/person
doug_nickerson -at- onsetcomp -dot- com
