NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #1/NN_1993_1.iso/spool/misc/writing/4033

Text File | 1993-01-05 | 3.1 KB | 67 lines

Newsgroups: misc.writing
Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!gatech!concert!sas!mozart.unx.sas.com!sasafw
From: [e-mail] (Fred Welden)
Subject: Re: Add where you are to .sig file
Originator: [e-mail]
Sender: [e-mail] (Noter of Newsworthy Events)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 21:40:45 GMT
Distribution: na
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Nntp-Posting-Host: dobo.unx.sas.com
Organization: Dobonia
Lines: 52


In <various articles>, [e-mail] write:

|[A bunch of stuff both for and against the idea of including your
|physical location in the .sig, so as to clear up possible confusion
|to readers of your posts.]

I'm following up only in misc.writing because some of the other groups
aren't permitted here in Dobonia.

True, I wouldn't want to get all excited about a vintage Mustang offered
for sale dirt cheap only to discover that the car was in Bognor Regis.

The seller ought to make it clear in the posting where the car is
located, because that's an important part of my deliberations on buying
it.  But there's no guarantee that the seller's physical location and
the car's physical location are the same, so a .sig that tells me the
seller is in Cupertino, California, USA, Earth, doesn't mean the car
ISN'T in Bognor Regis, does it?

I suppose this seems awfully petty, and the example doesn't have much to
do with writing, does it?  So let's construct a writing example, from
material in an earlier post.  Somebody says he's writing a story in
which the protagonist can't give up his abiding love for fags.  Well, I
say to myself, this guy is either writing in American English (and
offensively) about homosexuals, or British English (and vernacularly)
about cigarettes.  There's no guarantee that the poster learned English
in the same location that he's posting from, so a .sig that tells me the
writer is in Cupertino, California, USA, Earth, doesn't mean he ISN'T a
Britisher talking about cigarettes, does it?

This occurred to me because I happen to be posting from Cary, North
Carolina, but I would never say that someone was "falling off" to mean
that he was losing weight, while I MIGHT say that the geographical
information in a .sig was lagniappe.  I didn't learn English here.
Care to guess where I did learn it?

The bottom line is this: if you want to sell a car, or get your point
across, try to be sure you provide the necessary information to do it.
And before you start salivating over a hot deal or firing off flames at
a gay-basher, think for a moment about the information you might not
have on hand.  I happen to think that one of the beauties of the net is
the fact that (given sufficient control of the medium, and yourself) you
need reveal no more about your location, age, sex, race, affectional
preference, or previous condition of servitude than you wish to reveal.
You can even lie about any or all of the above.

Caveant et emptor et lector.

--
--Fred, or another blind 8th-century BC  |  [e-mail]
        Hellenic poet of the same name.  |