A Bi-Monthly Newsletter
Volume 6, Issue 2, March 2003
STC WVC Home>Newsletter Table of Contents>Take our W-O-R-D For It
 

Take Our W-O-R-D For It

This column interprets a variety of words, phrases and acronyms encountered in technical communications. Laugh and learn as your peers provide real-world and sometimes cheeky definitions in each issue.

This issue’s definitions are provided courtesy of the Willamette Valley Chapter Administrative Council members.

Copyright:
The express permission to duplicate a writing as long as the words are copied exactly right. – Kymm Nelsen

Localization:
The act of looking around for a Starbucks to determine the nearest cross streets. – Kymm Nelsen

PDF:
Stands for "Prettified Developer Format": typical documents created by technical writers, who really just type up and fix the spelling and punctuation of documents the developers have already written. – Patrice Dodd

WORD:
Acronym: Weird Output Randomly Delivered (In response to Wacko Formatting applied seemingly at whim to documents that have been touched by any other computer.) – Darinda LaFlash

WORD:
Stands for "Write OR Develop," the existential question all members of the computer industry ask themselves. – Patrice Dodd

Additional Resources
The following is a list of just a few web sites that can help you quickly identify this issue’s definitions on your own.

United States. Library of Congress. Copyright Basics. Copyright Office. 24 Feb. 2003. http://www.loc.gov/copyright/.

Hower, Sean. Technical Writing . Hokum Glossaries. 2 Mar. 2003. http://hokum.freehomepage.com/Content/Glossary/Glossary_Technical.html.

Larson, Gary B. Keywords. Garbl’s Writing Center. 25 Oct. 2002. http://garbl.home.attbi.com/stylemanual/contents.htm.

Orr, Timothy and Laura Ramones. Technical Writing Terms Database. Tools for Writers. http://toolsforwriters.com/portfolios/fall03/orr/terms.htm.

Cindy Reid is a freelance technical writer/editor and web site designer. She can be reached at cindycomm@attbi.com.