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Subject:Re: Simple Verbiage Question From:Janet_Swisher -at- TRILOGY -dot- COM Date:Thu, 26 Aug 1999 14:11:31 -0500
Nancy Smith wrote:
>"Functionality," "utilize" (and various forms of
>that word), and "capability" are, to me, appropriate
>in marketing literature (and in spoken
>communication) but not in technical writing.
As John Posada indicated, "functionality" has its place in writing for
programmers. They make, use and understand a distinction between a
"function" (count noun), a particular thing a program does, and
"functionality" (mass noun), a set of stuff a program can do, or that it
lets you do. However, I wouldn't use it in the context that started this
thread, which was writing for warehouse workers.
In my opinion, the terms listed above are what make marketing literature
sound overblown, and cause it to not be taken seriously, so I'd want to
avoid them in that context as well.
