Date: 16 Sep 1997 12:01:02 -0500
From: Bruce Epstein
Subject: Terminal Terminology <Coffee through Nose warning>

>>
* When I try to send the web to the wurtelactor my e-mail program says "No
frizzits in the blurf".  
<<

The definitive answer is, of course:

You apparently neglected to frobozz your tutebang before grupping your
schenzi.


>>What am I doing wrong? 

Which reminds me of the T-Shirt captioned,  "You're problem is obvious."

>>  To make your life more
interesting and challenging, I won't give any hint of what kind of computer
I'm using, what programs I'm using, nor any details of my setup, nor what 
a wurtelactor is, nor what I mean by "sending the web". 
<<

Does anyone spend a considerable amount of time in their books covering the
appropriate use of terminology?  Not just definitions, but how you would
actually go about asking for help?

In Director for example, the data files are called "movies", and so are
digital video files (i.e. QuickTime movies), which are something totally
different.  Also movies-in-a-window are called movies, although they're a
little different, as are embedded movies in the cast.

A typical question might read:  "My presentation has three movies, each with
four or five movies in it, and the second one doesn't play."

In my last book (which was NOT for beginners), I spent about a page and a
half covering the different items and the correct terminology for two
reasons:

1) I didn't want to have to be painfully explicit for the next 100 pages
about what I meant in each sentence.  Confusing the reader with terminology
they don't understand is the easiest way to get them to think your book
sucks.

2) So readers could actually post sensible questions, which is the most
likely path to getting an actual answer,  when the need inevitably arose.

In related news:

I was helping my sister with a web site, and she kept suggested I go to other
sites and "download their ftp".  In her case, a little knowledge was clearly
a dangerous thing.  It is a learned skill to ignore what you really know, and
try to understand what someone with little clue actually means in their
question.  

In unrelated news, also about my family:

My Mom bought me a beginning book on cartooning, which I know nothing about.
 It has been very instructive for getting into the clueless mindset so that I
don't miss things I should be telling my readers in my book.  You may have
known that cartoon hands have four fingers, not five, but did you know that
cartoon thumbs have two bones, not three?


My mind is a blank slate,
Bruce

Tip for the day:

If someone calls asking for a "Mr. Lee," and you tell them that they have the
wrong number, and that doesn't seem to bother them, hang up.