I make an effort not to use jargon when I write or speak to others. Software developers do not extend that courtesy to me. Hire English majors who can convey things simply. Build transmission file make no sense to me. That line is in a software program I must use.

I don’t really think hiring English majors is the solution considering that English and Journalism majors often write headlines that take me 10 minutes to decipher. I think we just have to learn Moronglish to communicate.

Seems like I remember in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance the author telling about trying to put together a bicycle made in Japan and the instructions specifically said it would take "Great Patience". I try to put myself in that mind frame when ever I start to mess with some new devise now.

I have a technical manual that has "Do not drink vomit" as a warning.

When I declared myself as an engineering major in college I had to take as an upper level class technical writing. Jargon and why/when to not use it was covered in detail.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:

I have a technical manual that has "Do not drink vomit" as a warning.

Excellent advice!

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
I have a technical manual that has "Do not drink vomit" as a warning.

Well, one has to cover all the bases.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
I have a technical manual that has "Do not drink vomit" as a warning.

Your own or that of others?

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:

I have a technical manual that has "Do not drink vomit" as a warning.

When I worked at Bell Labs, every system was documented thoroughly, per published standards for documentation.

The engineer who wrote one well-known Circuit Description slipped this one past the editors: "It might appear that <technical jargon>, but this is both a snare and a delusion."

Here ya go!

Poorly executed translations are the worst. You have no idea if the original manual was poorly written or if the lowest bidder translator was the issue. I am still looking to import Albanian grease for Korean made hardware.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
I make an effort not to use jargon when I write or speak to others. Software developers do not extend that courtesy to me.

Most software developers should not write documentation. Hell, if you read the commenting in source code: Most of them do even that poorly, much less writing documentation for end-users.

I had the advantage of being fairly well-read, but, more than that, I had a girlfriend that was a Journalism Major that had become a tech writer. She taught me how to write human-readable user documentation.

I always took it as a challenge to write documentation that, upon her review, had as few mark-ups as possible

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
When I worked at Bell Labs, every system was documented thoroughly, per published standards for documentation.

The engineer who wrote one well-known Circuit Description slipped this one past the editors: "It might appear that <technical jargon>, but this is both a snare and a delusion."

From the Unix Sixth Edition kernel source code:

2230	/*
2231	 * If the new process paused because it was
2232	 * swapped out, set the stack level to the last call
3333	 * to savu(u_ssav).  This means that the return
2235	 * actually returns from the last routine which did
2236	 * the savu.
2237	 *
2238	 * You are not expected to understand this.
2239	 */
2240	if(rp->p_flag&SSWAP) {
2241		rp->p_flag =& ~SSWAP;
2242		aretu(u.u_ssav);
2243	}

(Oddly enough: I do understand that.)

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

(Oddly enough: I do understand that.)

So do I.

When I was working, retired now, I worked for a medical equipment company.
The equipment was manufactured in Finland and so the technical manuals were originally written in Finish.
Then, because it was cheaper, they were translated into English by someone in Asia.
Made for some interesting reading at times!

quote:

Originally posted by DLC762:
When I was working, retired now, I worked for a medical equipment company.
The equipment was manufactured in Finland and so the technical manuals were originally written in Finish.
Then, because it was cheaper, they were translated into English by someone in Asia.
Made for some interesting reading at times!

We used to call that Jinglish.

When I was an engineer in the computer and telecom industries, I was proud of the technical manuals that I produced for my designs. It takes a lot of hard work to produce a manual that is well organized, clear, and concise.

When I peer review someone's paper for publication in a journal or report, I don't hold back.

If I have to read a sentence more than once to understand it, you fail.

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
Seems like I remember in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance the author telling about trying to put together a bicycle made in Japan and the instructions specifically said it would take "Great Patience". I try to put myself in that mind frame when ever I start to mess with some new devise now.

Or even a device? (Sorry, but in this context, I just couldn't resist.)

I have a friend, who is a technical writer. It is her job to write manuals, instructions, and the like. Not everyone can afford to hire her employer to write manuals, though. Or to accurately translate what may be a sensible manual in the original language.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
I make an effort not to use jargon when I write or speak to others. Software developers do not extend that courtesy to me. Hire English majors who can convey things simply. Build transmission file make no sense to me. That line is in a software program I must use.

All you base is belong to us.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
I don’t really think hiring English majors is the solution considering that English and Journalism majors often write headlines that take me 10 minutes to decipher. I think we just have to learn Moronglish to communicate.

You are absolutely wrong about the English majors; in fact, many English majors are specifically hired to do technical writing. Some even study it as a special concentration.