atw: Re: BlackBerry devices? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Howard,
 
How can you recommend just using "BlackBerry", how can you say using a
generic term for a trademarked product is OK in certain circumstances and
how can you recommend "BlackBerrys" as a plural? These statements are simply
incorrect.
 
I am constantly amazed at how often we shoot ourselves in the foot. We
covered this exact issue (BlackBerry devices) at length on the 8th of March
2007 so the answers (as they so often are) can be found in the FreeList
archives (www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter).
 
We should ALL look there first.
 
Sorry if I seem to be picking on you Howard because I'm not particularly
setting out to do that. There just seems to be a number of apparently senior
technical writers unfamiliar with this issue (as there were back in March)
and this really surprises me. Not so much in the fact that there was a lack
of knowledge (we all have knowledge gaps) but in the fact that several gave
WRONG information obviously without doing their research first.
 
And Ilana, we explained all this to you last time because I am sure it was
you who started the 'BlackBerry devices' thread back in March. As such, what
has happened between then and now to warrant the repeat?
 
My 0.05.
 
Cheers,
 
Bruce

  _____  

From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Howard.Silcock@xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, 18 July 2007 10:29 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: BlackBerry devices? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]



Hi Ilana and others 

I'm also writing BlackBerry documentation and  I'd certainly recommend just
"BlackBerry". If people don't know what a BlackBerry is, I don't think
appending the word "device" will help them much. 

Using a generic term could be OK in certain circumstances, but obviously it
depends on the context - in some cases you might want to distinguish the
BlackBerry from other devices that could be lumped under 'PDAs'. 

The plural is certainly more problematical. I actually wrote to the
manufacturers to ask if they had a preferred plural but never received any
reply. However, the consensus here seems to be that the plural should be
BlackBerrys. The rationale seems to be an unwritten rule that trade names
should be treated, like people's names, as 'regular' forms from the point of
view of inflection - you'd call the family of Mr Bowman 'the Bowmans', not
'the Bowmen'. In this context, it seems that changing -y to -ies for the
plural isn't regarded as 'regular', though the rules for using -s or -es
presumably would be incorporated in the regular form. (Mr Fox's family would
be Foxes, not Foxs.) 

Steven Pinker's book 'Words and Rules' has some very interesting
observations about this general topic. (He also discusses the issue of the
plural of 'mouse' at length, saying it's the question he's most often asked
about when lecturing on this.) 

Howard 

Howard Silcock 
Technical Writer 
Zare Pty Ltd 



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Hi all,
I am currently writing a policy manual on BlackBerry devices.  I would like
your opinion on what terminology to use.

Is the term BlackBerry accepted widely enough so that I can use it without
adding the word "device"? That is, do I use the term "BlackBery" alone or do
I need to call it a "BlackBerry device"?

Following on from this, what is more acceptable in the plural,
"BlackBerries" or "BlackBerry devices"?  I do not really want to have to use
the word "device" if I can help it, but somehow "BlackBerries" does not seem
right.
Thanks for your help.
Ilana
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