DASDBill:
with, like, my 8- and 11-year-old grandsons who are currently, like,
visiting
Since it's Friday, why do "we" tend to list our kids by ascending age?
After
all, unlike the chicken and the egg, we *do* know which came first. I
always
list mine by descending age.
From: "(IBM Mainframe Discussion List)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@BAMA.UA.EDU>
To: IBM-MAIN@BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Principles of Operation in pop American English?
Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2007 08:09:37 EDT
A lighten-up topic for Friday which was, like, inspired by conversations
with, like, my 8- and 11-year-old grandsons who are currently, like,
visiting
with us.
What if the dry, sometimes boring Principles of Operation had been written
in the pop American style of spoken English? We might see something like
the
following:
"LOAD, you know, ADDRESS?? [1]
Like, the address specified by the, you know, X2, B2, and, you know, D2
fields is, like, actually placed in general register R1?? The address
computation, like, totally follows the rules for address arithmetic?? In
the 24-bit
addressing mode, the address is, you know, like totally placed in bit
positions, like, 40-63, bits 32-39 are actually set to, like, zeros, and
bits 0-31
essentially remain unchanged?? Check it out, Dude! [3]"
Thankfully, technical writers do not write the way people speak.
Bill Fairchild
Plainfield, IL
[1] The double question mark indicates that the declarative statement, if
spoken, should end with a rising tone of voice indicating extreme
tentativeness
[2] on the part of the speaker.
[2] The speaker must never give any indication that a dogmatic value
judgment has just been stated, such as a belief that the statement might
be true.
[3] An emphatic, non-tentative tonal quality is permitted if the statement
ends with "Dude!".
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