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Extend style guide "Use simple language" section #1624

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Extend style guide "Use simple language" section #1624

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15 changes: 10 additions & 5 deletions documentation/style-guide.rst
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Expand Up @@ -103,11 +103,16 @@ Unix
Use simple language
===================

Avoid esoteric phrasing where possible. Our audience is world-wide and may not
be native English speakers.

Don't use Latin abbreviations like "e.g." or "i.e." where English words will do,
such as "for example" or "that is."
The documentation has a world-wide audience of varying English proficiency.
To make the documentation more accessible and inclusive, the following should be
avoided:

- Esoteric phrasing.
- Abbreviations, such as Latin "e.g." or "i.e.," or symbols, such as the
ampersand ('&'), where English words will do, such as
"for example", "that is" and "and," respectively.
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I don't agree with discouraging '&'. It's relatively common, and helps distinguish items in a list, e.g. "Tom & Jerry and Barbie & Ken have both featured in major animated works".

- Idioms, as they are often confusing to non-native speakers and
are difficult to translate.
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I've said elsewhere, but part of the draw of Python is that it has historically been less 'clinical'/corporate/dry than other languages, and silly examples (Monty Python) & idioms in prose are part of that. I think there's a fine balance between avoiding overuse and confusion and a prohibition: I would be sad to see this type of thing go.



.. index:: diataxis
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