atw: Re: '24/7'
- From: Howard Silcock <howard.silcock@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2012 13:07:36 +1000
Thanks to those who made suggestions.
As it's is meant to be a secure network, I think I'd have to avoid the term
'always open'!
The document is very unlikely to be translated - but, at the risk of
starting up a new debate, I believe in any case that translators are paid
to translate and if they can't find out the meaning of a term that's
obvious to any native speaker, they should look for another job! (Why do
people treat translators so indulgently? No wonder we're willing to settle
for ghastly automated translations, when we expect so little of the humans
paid for the skill.)
I still like 'round-the-clock'. Terry's post sent me checking for
differences between 'round' and 'around'. Fowler's Modern English Usage
comes to the conclusion that most people decide between these words based
on what the author calls 'contextual euphony' (I think he means what sounds
better), except when it means 'approximately' - and that Americans tend to
prefer 'around'. So I can't really see any reason to change to 'around' -
I'm not writing for Americans. Others' suggestions were quite good too -
'uninterrupted' and 'continuous' (but why would you need both?).
Howard
On 22 August 2012 11:59, Terry Dowling <Terrence.Dowling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> Hi Howard,****
>
> ** **
>
> I agree that it’s clumsy and forgets the leap year. I’d be inclined to use
> ‘an around-the-clock’ rather than ‘round’ – but I’d prefer to say something
> like ‘always open[available?]’ or ‘24 hours a day, every day of the year’.
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> Cheers,****
>
> Terry****
>
> ** **
>
> ****
>
> *From:* austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
> austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Howard Silcock
> *Sent:* Wednesday, 22 August 2012 9:20 AM
>
> *To:* austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* atw: '24/7'****
>
> ** **
>
> A document I'm currently working with refers to "a 24 hour seven days' a
> week, 365 days' a year global network environment". Apart from the misuse
> of apostrophes and the mixture of singular 'hour' with plural 'days', this
> seems a very cumbersome expression for a very clear concept. ****
>
> ****
>
> I need to refer to this passage in another document I'm writing, and was
> tempted to simplify it to 'a 24/7 global network environment' or to 'a
> round-the-clock global network environment'. But, after consulting the
> Wikipedia article '24/7', I'm wondering if this would be wise. It seems the
> term '24/7' has caused some confusion when used in company promotions,
> especially over whether it implies availability on holidays. I don't really
> want to write '24/7/365' – that's getting cumbersome again, and the pedant
> in me keeps wondering 'what about leap years?'. I like 'round-the-clock',
> but Wikipedia suggests it's a UK usage.****
>
> ****
>
> What do you think?****
>
> ****
>
> Howard****
>
>
> ****
>
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