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conulyDon (put on) PPE and doff (take off) said PPE.
Parentheses are theirs, not mine - I'm of the firm belief that if you have to define your term immediately after using it, you're better off not using it on an informational poster to begin with. I'm sure they have some reason they had to do that, but I'm equally sure that reason was not as good a reason as they think.
However, my primary thought, after criticizing their editorial decisions here, is that I really want to inform whoever made that poster that, etymologically speaking, "don" is "do on" and "doff" is "do off", because English phrasal verbs, including those using vagueisms like "do", "make", "put", and "take", are apparently a deeply inbuilt feature of our language.
This fact wouldn't improve their signage nor anybody's comprehension, but I still want to tell them. Barring that, I'm telling all of you.
Parentheses are theirs, not mine - I'm of the firm belief that if you have to define your term immediately after using it, you're better off not using it on an informational poster to begin with. I'm sure they have some reason they had to do that, but I'm equally sure that reason was not as good a reason as they think.
However, my primary thought, after criticizing their editorial decisions here, is that I really want to inform whoever made that poster that, etymologically speaking, "don" is "do on" and "doff" is "do off", because English phrasal verbs, including those using vagueisms like "do", "make", "put", and "take", are apparently a deeply inbuilt feature of our language.
This fact wouldn't improve their signage nor anybody's comprehension, but I still want to tell them. Barring that, I'm telling all of you.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-29 06:59 pm (UTC)I agree!
Was this on a sign that showed how to do so, or were those the only words. If the former, then the instructions (written or visual) would have been the needed clarification, and people would have learned new words.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-29 07:23 pm (UTC)I agree with the CDC that people shouldn't be learning via context when they're also getting an important reminder on how to do a life-saving work-related task. I just don't think that parentheses are helpful in that.