commensurate - too clever for technical readers 2

[columb]

I've just had a report knocked back because I said that the results of a trial were 'commensurate with expectations'. I feel that anyone who doesn't know what commensurate means should look it up. My boss feels, and I can see his view point, that I'm expecting too much for my audience.

So how do others feel about this? Do you agree with my boss? Is it the duty of technical writers to dumb down their prose or is this part of the continual erosion of our beautiful language? Or was I just showing off?

Columb Healy
Living with a seeker after the truth is infinitely preferable to living with one who thinks they've found it.

 

[strongm]

Sadly, I believe that it is generally the duty of the technical writer to gauge the ability of the intended audience and pitch the level of the report appropriately.

Sometimes, of course, you will encounter someone bloody-minded, like the manager, mentioned by Bill Bryson in one of his books on language, who refused to accept or action any communications he recieved that included a split infinitive (as far as I recall).

 

[Thadeus]

I personally don't think the word commensurate should be axed for anyone in the business world. I could understand dumbing down if you are writing for an absolutely mixed audience, such as tax form instructions.

~Thadeus

 

[sleipnir214]

I took a technical writing class in college. Although the class was, for the most part, excruciatingly boring, I did take with me the idea of reader-centered writing. When we create documents, we create them to be read, and so we must tailor what we write to match our readerships.

The decision whether to use "commensurate with expectations" in the document should be based entirely on whether you reasonably expect your particular set of readers to understand the phrase.


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[Dimandja]

As to the present audience, which you call technical, there is not a simple answer. Not all technical audiences are equal.

For example, a biologist can be expected to be a lot more technical (literature wise) than - sadly to say - a contemporary computer programmer.

For some reason, computer people don't seem to be literature inclined. This is why I like this particular forum.

 

[ESquared]

You mean there are native English speakers who don't know what commensurate means?

I have a hard time knowing which words people are likely to know and which ones they are likely not to know...

-------------------------------------
It is better to have honor than a good reputation.
(Reputation is what other people think about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.)

 

[AnotherHiggins]

I agree, E[sup]2[/sup]. I thought that Commensurate is a very common word.

But you know what they say about trying to make something "foolproof".... They'll just create a better fool!



John

Every generalization is false, including this one.

 

[edfair]

Now you get to really practice the writer's craft. To make a technical presentation using two syllable words with the results of the trial in such a way that even the least technical reader will have total understanding of what happened.
I think it is described as knowing the subject so well that you can explain it to a third grader.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[nctk]

In my view readers of technical literature should know what commensurate means or be curious enough to look it up.

I live in Germany, where the active vocabulary of readers of the largest circulation newspaper (BILD)is said to be around 300 words. There seems to be no direct equivalent of the word commensurate in German, but even if there were, I doubt whether it would rank amongst the 300.

Although the meaning of commensurate is very clear to me I have to admit that it is not a word that I have ever actually used. I will throw it in casually at the next dinner party.

 

[CajunCenturion]

I agree with edfair. You have to learn to write to the level of your expected audience. Easier said than done. On the flip side, if you dumb it down too much, you can bore you audience.

I would assume that anyone practicing professionally (IT or otherwise) has come across the phrase, "salary commensurate with experience," or similar.

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[Dimandja]

[...] knowing the subject so well that you can explain it to a third grader.

I think this is the key. If the subject is very clear to you, you should be able to explain it in very simple terms and keep any audience captivated.

 

[CajunCenturion]

I agree that you should able to explain in very simple terms, but I don't think that necessarily should.

For example: If you are giving a lecture to high school freshman on "Software Engineering Modelling Techniques", then you probably should lean towards the very simple terms. On the other hand, if the lecture is to delivered to computer science graduate students, then lecture should be more commensurate with their knowledge level.

Good Luck
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[edfair]

The boss has issued the challenge. So now it is up to columb to respond.
The issue is to do the writing in such a way that all parties receiving the communication don't feel insulted and thus , tune out. That has to happen in the choice of words describing the results of the trial and, for clarity, the expectations that preceded it.
Good writers can make the most boring stuff exciting. Bad writers can make the most exciting stuff boring. I am waiting for columb's followup to see if he/she was up to the task and how it worked out.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[columb]

edfair
I think you miss my point. I'm not enough of a rebel to fight the boss on this one. If he wants commensurate replaced by 'in line with' then so be it. I hope I can still write good prose using simpler expressions.

My question was rather whether we should expect IT professionals to understand words like commensurate. I feel that anyone who is educated to the level demanded by the sort of work we do should either know the word, or have sufficient intellectual curiosity to look it up. My boss feels otherwise and I'm interested in the views of this forum. Mind you, we're probably a little biased towards literary skills!



Columb Healy
Living with a seeker after the truth is infinitely preferable to living with one who thinks they've found it.

 

[CajunCenturion]

For a native English speaker, yes, I would expect an IT professional to know the word.

For a non-native English speaker, I honestly don't know. I know we have a number of non-native English speakers participating in the forum, and I share columb's interest in their opinions.

Good Luck
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[AnotherHiggins]

As always with writing, it comes down to the audience. Like CC said, if talking to high school freshmen you might want to dumb it down a little. But if this is being written for IT professionals...or professionals of any type, I think you should be able to use the word commensurate.

I think your manager is probably either underestimating the audience or (s)he is projecting his/her own ignorance on the audience.

John

Every generalization is false, including this one.

 

[ESquared]

Is it just me, or am I right in thinking, "what's the big deal with using words people may not know?"

When I don't know a word... any word... spoken by anyone, I ask what it means. I don't feel the slightest bit abashed or ashamed or that people will look down on me for not knowing it. Because, you know what? Now I know the word and they cannot point to a single word they know which I don't.

It always surprises me when I find out someone was bothered by use of a 'big word,' I always wonder why they didn't just ask what it meant.

-------------------------------------
It is better to have honor than a good reputation.
(Reputation is what other people think about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.)

 

[Stella740pl]

CajunCenturion,

As a non-native English speaker I can say, that when I write a technical document once in a while (got to say, I hate doing that), I have no idea which words my readers would or wouldn't know.

As for me personally, I didn't know very well what "commensurate" means, but I understood the meaning and also looked it up for the future. Got to mention, though, since this is not a technical term but rather a less frequently used English word, why would you expect technical users to know it any better than any other single group of non-linguistic professionals? Another story would be, though, if you expect everyone above 8th grade to know the word.

If I have a few words on a written page that I don't know, I would just try to understand them from the context (and remember the next time I see it), and would look up a couple of words on every page, either completely unfamiliar and hard to guess, or those that I've seen before used differently.

But if I have to look up every second word on the page, you would loose me as a reader, because if you have to look up too many words, you would basically forget what you are reading about, and not remember the words you looked up either. So unless I'm hard pressed to finish that particular text, I would just conclude that I'm not ready to read this kind of text in this particular language, it's just not my level.

Several years ago I tried to re-read one of my childhood favorite books in it's original language, English (I read it in Russian back then). It was hard, getting through tons of unfamiliar words took away all the fun. I gave up soon. A few years later I opened it again - surprise! It's a whole different feeling.

Stella

 

[SQLSister]

Commensurate is a word I would expect anyone with a college education (who is a native English speaker) to know. It is not a word I would expect high school graduates or those with a lesser degree of education to know.

I would have no problem with this in a document aimed at IT professionals if they were generally college educated unless I knew a good segment of my audience would not be native English speakers. I would use it in a report addressed to managers or HR personnel (even non-college educated here would generally know this term). I would not use it in a documant addressed to the general public.

Questions about posting. See faq183-874

 

[CajunCenturion]

... why would you expect technical users to know it any better than any other single group of non-linguistic professionals?

Fair question. The simple answer is that columb's question was "... whether we should expect IT professionals to understand words like commensurate." and I was simply answering the direct question with a direct answer.

For the record, as implied in an earlier post, I would expect any professional (IT or otherwise) to be familar with this word.

Good Luck
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