IETF Logo Mail Archive

Re: Colloquial language [Re: Last Call: <draft-hoffman-tao4677bis-15.txt> (The Tao of IETF: A Novice's Guide to the Internet Engineering Task Force) to Informational RFC]

Dave Crocker <dhc@dcrocker.net> Thu, 31 May 2012 06:59 UTC

Return-Path: <dhc@dcrocker.net>
X-Original-To: ietf@ietfa.amsl.com
Delivered-To: ietf@ietfa.amsl.com
Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ietfa.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C21D711E80E5 for <ietf@ietfa.amsl.com>; Wed, 30 May 2012 23:59:10 -0700 (PDT)
X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at amsl.com
X-Spam-Flag: NO
X-Spam-Score: -6.599
X-Spam-Level:
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-6.599 tagged_above=-999 required=5 tests=[BAYES_00=-2.599, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_MED=-4]
Received: from mail.ietf.org ([12.22.58.30]) by localhost (ietfa.amsl.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id u5IRzGIrY29b for <ietf@ietfa.amsl.com>; Wed, 30 May 2012 23:59:10 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from sbh17.songbird.com (sbh17.songbird.com [72.52.113.17]) by ietfa.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 267B111E8093 for <ietf@ietf.org>; Wed, 30 May 2012 23:59:10 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from [192.168.2.101] (f052240238.adsl.alicedsl.de [78.52.240.238]) (authenticated bits=0) by sbh17.songbird.com (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id q4V6x5Ii025053 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Wed, 30 May 2012 23:59:06 -0700
Message-ID: <4FC716B8.2090208@dcrocker.net>
Date: Thu, 31 May 2012 08:59:04 +0200
From: Dave Crocker <dhc@dcrocker.net>
Organization: Brandenburg InternetWorking
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:12.0) Gecko/20120428 Thunderbird/12.0.1
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Brian E Carpenter <brian.e.carpenter@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Colloquial language [Re: Last Call: <draft-hoffman-tao4677bis-15.txt> (The Tao of IETF: A Novice's Guide to the Internet Engineering Task Force) to Informational RFC]
References: <20120530225655.19475.74871.idtracker@ietfa.amsl.com> <4FC6CE2F.70903@stpeter.im> <4FC71178.2050401@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <4FC71178.2050401@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"; format="flowed"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Greylist: Sender succeeded SMTP AUTH, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.0 (sbh17.songbird.com [72.52.113.17]); Wed, 30 May 2012 23:59:08 -0700 (PDT)
Cc: ietf@ietf.org, Paul Hoffman <paul.hoffman@vpnc.org>
X-BeenThere: ietf@ietf.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.12
Precedence: list
Reply-To: dcrocker@bbiw.net
List-Id: IETF-Discussion <ietf.ietf.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/options/ietf>, <mailto:ietf-request@ietf.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ietf>
List-Post: <mailto:ietf@ietf.org>
List-Help: <mailto:ietf-request@ietf.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf>, <mailto:ietf-request@ietf.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 31 May 2012 06:59:10 -0000

On 5/31/2012 8:36 AM, Brian E Carpenter wrote:
> Have we any evidence that this is a problem for the community? The informal
> style is one of the virtues of the Tao. I'd be sorry to lose it.


Let's separate use of colloquial language from overall writing style. 
It is possible to write in an informal style without using 
colloquialisms.  I could, for example, insert some side comment here 
that would be informal and lack colloquialisms.  By some measures, the 
preceding sentence is an example of exactly that...

Colloquialisms are well known to impede understanding by non-native 
English speakers.

So, do you have any evidence that this is /not/ a problem for that part 
of our community?

d/

-- 
  Dave Crocker
  Brandenburg InternetWorking
  bbiw.net

v2.23.0 | Report a Bug | By Email