[austechwriter] Re: Using the word 'anger' in marketing text



> It's not just an IT expression. Googling for "shot fired in anger"
> returns
> several hundred examples. My guess is that it started out as a military
> expression --
>=20
> "They surrendered without a shot being fired in anger"
> "The fort was scrapped without a shot ever being fired in anger"
>=20
> -- and eventually escaped to the wider world.

I can verify that, from my years in the Army as a weapons engineer. Shots
fired in anger are shots fired at the enemy, rather than test shots or
practice shots fired on a range. It does have the unpleasant connotations
of war and death. I always try to avoid negative connotations in user
documentation, where you are trying to give the reader the confidence to
use the product. The term, if used in marketing copy, may have some
appeal to the gung-ho gun-and-knife nuts. If the copy is for a military
readership, it could give the impression of trivialising an ultimate and
serious purpose.

As always, though, the decision to use it depends on its acceptability to
the intended readership. I'd be very wary of the judgement of a developer
on this point. If in doubt don't use the term, always choose the more
universal or neutral mode of expression. After all, you are the writer so
it should be your decision.
--=20
  Reginald Hardman      Reginald Hardman
  R=E9dacteur Technique   Technical Writer
  Paris, France         Paris, France
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