atw: Re: Query: Deliberate misspellings
- From: "Warren Lewington" <wjlewington@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 22:01:56 +1100
As a technical communicator to the automotive industry for nearly a decade,
I can assure you that the only sensible thing to do is use and insist on the
correct Australian grammar. I never use jargon or miss-spellings in my out
put to clients such as Repco or others.
As for marketing stuff, most of it is inaccurate anyway.
As an experienced communicator speaking, they only read if they have to,
they are too reading lazy, so a picture is much better, or a cartoon style.
Limit the text. Limit the text.
You have to keep it simple. SIMPLE. Most of them could not read the phonetic
spelling or the miss-spelling for "dyno-tuning", or dynamometer testing
anyway.
Please do not think that I am talking down at them, most of these people
arrive here with limited education, family histories of manual labour, and
from countries where print material is rare. But you test their memories for
remembering detail, and their abilities with tools and manual labour. WOW.
Merry Christmas to all of you, and prosperity in the new year!
Wassa.
-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Steve Hudson
Sent: Thursday, 16 December 2004 8:33 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Query: Deliberate misspellings
Not, not Tori (Miss Spelling). Let me elucidate, with the emphasis on loose
of course.
I have a long-term small client who is a mechanic. Quite frankly, this guy
is the best damn mechanic / service / repair / performance dude that Sydney
has ever seen, so he is an absolute pleasure to work for. Have you EVER
walked into a "we look after cars" joint and it has been spotless all over?
Etc.
We have a running argument with the words "dynatune" and to a lesser degree
"dynamometer". Not that it is required for this question, but a dynamometer
is an instrument that connects with your wheels (old tech is huge ground
rollers the car gets strapped onto, new tech is hub-based as per my client)
and measures the power and torque of your engine and transmission system to
measure "power at the wheels." The new system also measures torque more
accurately than the old system with its variable resistance.
Here is the problem. The audience is (excuse tech writer extreme use casing
here) a bunch of uneducated lebbos and red-necked yobbos who misspell these
words as "dynotune" as in "Ya need a dyno mate, you'll go sick!" and
"dynometer" respectively.
My client keeps changing my correct spellings to the incorrect spellings.
Now, where-as for street-side I don't mind too much, in formal marketing
material I can see no purpose in demonstrating a marked lack of education.
My personal opinion is based on the following surmise: "Do the lebs and yobs
understand what a dynanometer or dynatune is?" "Yes, it phonetically
represents terms they are familiar with and they have no problems with
that."
I am all ears. I am torn between "EDUCATE THE DUMB LITTLE SMUCKS" and "But
the audience..."
Dependant on the feedback from here, I may run a survey on existing
customers for a month to ascertain the answer part of my surmise.
Spanish Aunts!
Steve Hudson
Word Heretic, Sydney, Australia
Tricky stuff with Word or words for you.
www.wordheretic.com
ABN: 86 453 419 554
"Qualified Good Tech Writer Dude"
Free Association of Words
Without prejudice
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