Thanks for the pointer, Howard. Although your email didn't reach my inbox, Elizabeth's reply did, so thank Elizabeth. I thought I'd preordered this new fourth edition, but since Amazon don't seem to have any record of that, I've just bought the Kindle version. Must now resist the temptation of starting to read it until at least lunchtime. Thanks Nick Nick Shears Product Manager nshears@xxxxxxxxxxx Certain, Inc. www.certain.com -----Original Message----- From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Fullerton Sent: Thursday, 9 February 2012 10:21 AM To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: atw: Re: Microsoft Manual of Style I prefer Mr Jinx's "meeces". Regards Elizabeth Fullerton, CBAP Lead Consultant Infosys Australia & New Zealand Ph: +61 3 9680 2000 Fax: +61 3 9860 2999 www.infosys.com<http://www.infosys.com> Powered by intellect Driven by values ________________________________ From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Howard Silcock [howard.silcock@xxxxxxxxx] Sent: Thursday, 9 February 2012 10:39 AM To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: atw: Microsoft Manual of Style To anyone still reading this list ... Some of you may know that the most recent version of the Microsoft(r) Manual of Style was recently published. I bought myself a Kindle version for $9.99. Some people would probably have nothing to do with a Microsoft publication, but I've always found their advice very sensible and they've made a serious attempt to standardise terminology relating to user interfaces, which was badly needed. I was interested to read what they said about mouse terminology. We had a protracted discussion about the plural of 'mouse' on this list some years ago, in which I railed against the word 'mouses'. Microsoft always advocated using 'mouse devices', which I thought was a bit silly, but still better than 'mouses'. Well, now they appear to have shifted a little bit, as the new Manual of Style says 'use mouse devices if you can. Otherwise, use mice.' As they say, a small step for Man. Or Mouse? Howard ************************************************** To view the austechwriter archives, go to www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject field (without quotes). To manage your subscription (e.g., set and unset DIGEST and VACATION modes) go to www.freelists.org/list/austechwriter To contact the list administrator, send a message to austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **************************************************