atw: SEC: UNCLASS The slash or solidus - not as solid as you think?

Since Bede commented on my use of 'and/or', I've been pondering this and
related issues. Perhaps '/' itself is also worthy of attention. 

According to the sources I've checked, its main use is to indicate
alternatives (as in 'input/output' and, presumably, 'and/or'). So you might
think it ought to be possible, at least in most cases, to use 'or' instead
('and or or'?). 

Yet I don't think that's quite right. If you saw an advertisement for a
'documenter/trainer', you'd presumably expect the successful applicant to
carry out *both* roles, wouldn't you? And, in fact, you'd also expect an
'input/output module' to handle *both* input and output, wouldn't you? So
maybe it indicates a *combination*? 

No - that can't be right either! A 'yes/no answer' doesn't mean 'well, yes
and no'. And 'Dear Sir/Madam' isn't addressed only to hermaphrodites. This
is more complex than I realised! 

Well, maybe it indicates that the referent can be one of two kinds, or have
one of two attributes, *but not necessarily at the same time, or in the same
instance*. An input/output module is sometimes an input module, sometimes an
output module (and I don't know if it can ever be both at the same time, but
that doesn't matter). And a documenter/trainer is sometimes one, sometimes
the other. 'Dear Sir/Madam' addresses, in some instances, a man, in some
instances, a woman. Yes, this is starting to seem right.

Maybe this is why I've felt uneasy when people use '/' liberally in
documentation - because its use is so ill-defined. And I'm still not
confident that I've completely captured the meaning. A search on the web was
remarkably unproductive, but one site provided this quote, which expressed
something like my gut feeling:

'What bothers/annoys me is when slashes are used by careless/illiterate
writers/people too clueless/lazy to pick/select the right/correct
word/term.'

Anyone want to add some comments - or tell me I'm on the wrong track? (No,
you don't need to tell me it's also used as a path separator.) I mainly want
a way of deciding when I can justify putting the red pen through '/'. 

Howard  

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


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