Saturday, September 29, 2007

Can't Explain

I have worked in corporations alongside tech writers for over 15 years (gasp). I always heard that using humor in technical texts is quite risky and should be avoided. Here is a case in point, taken from the label on my conditioner (yes, I read everything):

Directions: Try to contain your laughter. Work conditioner through clean, damp hair. Rinse and commence laughter.

Can somebody explain?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yikes! As a technical writer, I would never write something like that. I'm guessing a disgruntled technical writer managed to sneak the offending text past the boss.
How would you translate that piece of text?

Sleepwalker said...

It is actually translated and the result is as... interesting as the source text. I had the feeling someone thought nobody reads these things so let's have fun...

Sleepwalker said...

My brother thinks maybe they misspelled lather. Any thoughts?
I will have to keep reading the instructions to see if they get corrected in a few shipments.