style: Thread: Re: LDP Style discussion (cont.)

Hi Charles,

I went to your link, http://www.sun.com/books/catalog/EdStyle/index.html but
was unable to find an online version of this book.  Did I miss something?

Thanks!
Tabatha

----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Curley" ####@####.####
To: "Joy Y Goodreau" ####@####.####
Cc: ####@####.####
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2002 7:11 PM
Subject: Re: LDP Style discussion (cont.)

> Haven't looked at the TOC, but I do have a comment about the next point:
>
> > " * Avoid Humor 2 "
> > I guess that leaves my documents out...
>
> I've learned (am learning?) that humor is often more fun for the writer
> than the reader, especially if readers include non-native speakers of
> the language.

I think that sometimes a good reason to avoid humor might be because during
translation to another language (whether English to another or vice versa),
some things get lost in the translation, making the text read oddly or
completely differ from what the author originally intended.

I recently ran into this with an article I posted to a mailing list.  A
fellow translated the article to Dutch, and since I couldn't read it, I
tried an online translator (mostly out of curiosity).  I had been fairly
casual in the article, not necessarily humorous, but it certainly ended up
different!  I believe it was only the online translator's fault, but it
gives you an idea how things could be misinterpreted.

In writing my articles & recent HOWTO for The Linux Counter, I decided to
forego the humor and just take an overall friendly, yet professional
approach.  I remained on-topic, and I saved my personal rhetoric for the
Conclusion/credits section.  Introductions (as opposed to Scope information)
can also be utilized in this way, giving a glimpse of the author's
personality, while not interfering with the body of the work.

I suppose it can be said that in certain circumstances, humor can interfere
with the readability of a document.  On the other hand, when done gently and
sparingly, it can make readability better.  I have encountered both
instances within the current documentation at the LDP.

So on that note, how does everyone else feel about it?  ;>

Tabatha