atw: Re: SEC: UNCLASS Pet hates

It would annoy me too Ryan,

Both are well past their prime and one doesn't even play anymore!

Cheers,

Bruce Ashley


I really dislike the use of referring to a singular item as a plural.
It's most often seen in sports talk, but comments like "...when they have
guys like your Buckleys and your Smiths its tough to prepare for the game.
I think we need to put in a Matty Lloyd or a Greg Williams to be
effective." really annoys me.

Yours in angst,

Ryan



"SUNTER Bede" <Bede_SUNTER@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent by: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
05/23/2005 03:27 PM
Please respond to
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atw: Re: SEC: UNCLASS   Pet hates






That's great, Howard, a very useful tool. Every office should have one.
I'm glad to see you got "on a ... basis": perhaps my favourite pet-hate.

On the radio news, I recently heard a police spokesperson declaring "All
those who need to know will be informed on a need-to-know basis". You
could hear the tension in his voice as he realised he'd already said
"need to know" but was too wedded to his cliche to save himself.

I digress ...

I have to point out that another of my pet hates is "and/or". In most
cases either "and" or "or" will do. In your introductory notes:
'The right-hand column lists suggested alternatives, sometimes with
explanatory notes and/or examples of the usage we prefer to avoid.'
The word "sometimes" allows you to say:
'... sometimes with explanatory notes and examples of the usage we
prefer to avoid.'=20

Sorry, couldn't help myself :7)
Bede
-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Silcock, Howard
DR
Sent: Monday, 23 May 2005 10:28 AM
To: Austechwriter (austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Subject: atw: SEC: UNCLASS Pet hates=20

Recently a few contributors have paraded some of their 'pet hates'
(words
and phrases we can't stand seeing) - think of Naomi railing about
'detrain'
and Bede coming down hard on 'impact' and the responses they provoked.
It
occurs to me that many of us probably carry around a similar store and
I'd
be interested to hear a few more from anyone who'd like to share some
more.
(I'm particularly interested in those we'd be likely to correct
regularly in
our work as tech writers.) Some colleagues at work and I recently
started
collecting some of these and I've now put them on a web page=20
(http://members.iinet.net.au/~howard.silcock/checklist.html)=20
under the heading A Technical Editor's Blacklist. It's intended to be a
dynamic collection so if I share your hates and you're happy to see them
published I may add them to the list. I'm now thinking about creating
entries for 'impact' and 'affect/effect' - though 'detrain' is probably
out
of scope, as it's hardly technical editing material (but I do agree with
you
nevertheless, Naomi).

Howard

-------------------------------
=20    Howard L. Silcock
=20     Technical Writer
Project Office - Infrastructure
=20   Department of Defence
=20      (02) 626 58828 =20
-------------------------------


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