The spoiled American. When it comes to international commerce and travel, we expect our counterparts to speak English perfectly, yet rela tively few of us have mastered a foreign language our selves. Drop your trousers here for best results, or of the Acapulco hotel that reassures its guests, The manager has per sonally passed all the water served here. Inconsistent use of terms. Readers in any language expect consistency.
Logic suggests that a variation in language signi fies a variation in meaning.
If the unthinking writer, for example, refers in one instance to the CRT, in another to the monitor, and yet another to the screen, the reader will likely assume that the writer intends three different meanings. Simi larly, the writer may confuse the reader by using a variety of expressions, such as key in the data, input the data, type in the data, and enter the data, to signify a single function. Although cultural references lend color and personality to our writing, they should be avoided when alluding to ideas or entities that are not universally recog nized, or when writing to readers in countries or cultures in which the allusions do not exist. A playful reference to April foolery or to giving someone the bum s rush, for example, may bewilder the reader who is struggling to arrive at a literal understanding of the language. Conversational language poses special difficulties for the non-native reader.