Ian.Gibson(at)Fluor.com
Date: Thu 05 Dec 2002 - 01:08:28 GMT
A slip of the mental tongue, indeed. My mind was slipping back a century to
the battle with Bishop Wilberforce, where the scientific discourse became
somewhat twisted also.
Perhaps we need some of the Pidgin English grammar where dead means in very
poor health, dead-dead is terminal, dead-dead-dead requires a reverent
disposal.
Or a safety tag from Bougainville Copper I once read, which on one side
read "This equipment is unserviceable", and on the other, in plain Pidgin,
"Dis pella im buggerup".
Succinct and intelligible to readers of both languages.
Ian H. Gibson
Principal Technical Specialist - Process and Control Systems
Fluor Australia Pty Ltd
Melbourne Australia
Ph. (61-3) 9268 6122 Fax. (61-3) 9268 6037
ian.gibson(at)fluor.com
|---------+------------------------------------->
| | David Tombs |
| | <tombs(at)svrc.uq.edu.au> |
| | Sent by: |
| | safety-critical-request(at)cs|
| | .york.ac.uk |
| | 05/12/02 11:23 |
| | Please respond to |
| | safety-critical |
| | |
|---------+------------------------------------->
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| To: safety-critical(at)cs.york.ac.uk |
| |
| cc: |
| |
| Subject: Re: [sc] Campaign for Plain English |
| |
| .|
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
All,
> It doesn't take Latin to obfuscate; Huxley in '1984' ?????
Orwell, G; '1984'. Penguin Books, 1949
From the list of references in the definition of the computer language
'NewSpeak'.
I'm sure that was just a slip of the keyboard from Ian.
Incidently, the real Campaign for Plain English publishes some good
guidance on writing technical literature
for a non-technical readership, along with well as examples of how, and
how not, to do it. Their main advice is:
Keep your sentences short
Prefer active verbs
Use 'you' and 'we'
Choose words appropriate for the reader
Don't be afraid to give instructions
Avoid nominalisations
Use positive language
Use lists where appropriate
Take a look at
http://www.plainenglish.co.uk
The safety world is bedevilled with terminology, that is slightly
different from (or at least, more precise than) it's natural English
usage. A colleague of mine, a native German speaker, has difficulty with
the distinctions between 'error', 'fault' and 'failure'. So I would add
another line:
If you use a technical term, define it.
David
=====================================
David Tombs
Software Verification Research Centre
University of Queensland
Brisbane QLD 4072
phone +61 7 3365 1643
fax +61 7 3365 1533
email tombs(at)svrc.uq.edu.au
=====================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information transmitted is intended only for the person
or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential
and/or privileged material. If you are not the intended recipient
of this message you are hereby notified that any use, review,
retransmission, dissemination, distribution, reproduction or any
action taken in reliance upon this message is prohibited. If you
received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the
material from any computer. Any views expressed in this message
are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect
the views of the company.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------