[From: Bruce Nevin (Wed 921223 12:33:51)]
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* (Martin Taylor 921222 18:15) *
* *
* . . . it always feels to me to be patronizing when I start to explain *
* something that the listener presumably knows. This problem causes great *
* confusion when I start speculating on the basis of things that are not *
* known to the other parties. *
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A universal problem.
Once years ago my wife and I stopped at a park in a small town in
the wastes of Nevada and there over picnic lunch struck up a
conversation with a Basque sheep man. He had been a miner, and
when I asked him what that was like he started his response thus:
"Now you're tappin' my gas." I hope you'll indulge me as I did
him, though I'm not so entertaining or colorful as he.
A writer's maxim: never underestimate the reader's intelligence;
never overestimate the reader's prior knowledge. The general
tone is "you probably already know this, bear with those reading
this who are not so familiar with it." It's the reason I think
it's a good idea to spell out familiar acronyms like ECS
(elementary control system) on their first occurrence in a
discussion of any length. It seems obvious and redundant, but
can make a big difference to a newcomer, and precisely because of
the redundancy the burden on the practiced reader is light.
Bruce
bn@bbn.com