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On Monday 3 March 2008, Stroller wrote: |
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> On 3 Mar 2008, at 09:57, Etaoin Shrdlu wrote: |
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> > On Monday 3 March 2008, Jan Seeger wrote: |
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> >> NOTE: I don't speak spanish. But somehow, I read it thusly: |
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> >> On Mon, 03. Mar, mvidela@××××××××.ar spammed my inbox with |
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> >> |
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> >>> todos los temas relacionados con soporte técnico |
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> >> |
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> >> all technical support requests (relations?) |
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> > |
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> > all technical support-related issues |
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> > |
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> > Ok, not that it changes much... :-) |
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> |
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> Noooo! It changes EVERYTHING!! |
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> |
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> "Issue" is word to describe an individual periodical in a series of |
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> publications, and is a weasel-word when it's used as a synonym for |
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> "problem". |
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|
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Ok. Literally, the word "tema" (pl. temas) would mean "subject, theme, |
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topic, matter". The degree of "problematic-ness" intended by whoever |
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wrote "temas" can't of course be deduced, but only guessed. |
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In my interpretation, I took "todos los temas relacionados con soporte |
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técnico" as meaning "anything related to technical support", so issue |
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seemed an acceptable translation (where "issues" include "problems" as |
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well, of course). |
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Also, I've seen many times "if you have issues, call 123456-789". In my |
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understanding, no doubt I'll call that technical support number if I |
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have issues, faults or problems (however serious they may be). |
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But english is not my native language, so I could very well be mistaken |
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in my understanding. |
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|
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> Clearly if your computer isn't booting it's a PROBLEM, not merely an |
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> "issue", so we can tell that the author of the email is engaged in |
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> the sort of environment where weasel-words are employed. |
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> |
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> I have dealt with such technical support departments in the past - I |
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> knew of one at which the management insisted that staff were not |
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> allowed to describe a dead PC as a problem because that "sounds too |
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> downbeat". Such scenarios were to be passed off to the customer as |
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> merely "an issue" ("however seriously we're addressing your issue, |
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> sir"), rather than the disaster it actually was. |
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> |
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> </pet peeve> |
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Agreed. I know that kind of environment. |
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So, are you saying that "issue" means "nuisance" or "minor problem" |
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rather than "real problem", and using the word to mean "problem" is |
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incorrect? Or you just hate it when they say "issue" when they really |
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should say "disaster" (in this case, I totally agree with you)? |
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-- |
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