![]() The title at the top was mistakenly worded as “AVOID VERBARL ODERS” I have a souvenir copy filed away. What is even funnier is that somebody goofed when they printed a new batch of the pads. I guess we were required to used flags or sign language. Printed at the top of each page on the pad in large, bold typeface were the words “AVOID VERBAL ORDERS” We called the piece of paper an “AVO” If one were to take the title literally, we were not allowed to use either written or spoken words to communicate orders. So they had printed thousands of small yellow pads for employees to write down their messages. They discovered that messages sent by phone or given to a person as they walked by their desk were being misinterpreted. Many, many years ago, the company I worked for (no names mentioned) wanted people to put all person-to-person and department-to-department directives in writing. The explanation about using “verbal” incorrectly for “oral” is a common mistake. It is so easy to simply drop an “and” in to combine clauses. I am probably guilty of it and this lesson will motivate me to be more careful. It was first brought to my attention years and years ago and I haven’t been reminded about it until today. The advice today on parallelism is extremely valuable. ![]()
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