How to write like Raymond: Intentional typographical errors

Raymond Chen

I’m a pretty good speller. If I want to show impatience, I will type very fast and make no attempt to fix the typographical errors. Here’s an example: Somebody asked me what the correct name is for a particular user interface element.

i don’t nkow. call up the online hep and see what the ycall it.

It may surprise you to know that I am not part of the committee that decides on the names for all user interface elements. If you want to know the correct name for a user interface element (for example, the Start menu), you don’t need to ask me. You can look it up yourself: It’s in the help.

The list of agreed-upon names for user interface elements is given to the help authoring team so they can use those correct terms in the help files, and the editors in the help authoring team use that list to ensure that all the terminology is used correctly.

Therefore, if you want to look up the correct name for a user interface element, you can look for it in the help system, because the help system has editors who check these things.

Raymond Chen

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