Culinary Technical Writing - Part I

Few days ago, a job advertisement was posted on TWIN (Technical Writers of India) mailing list. It was for a post of a Culinary Technical Writer. The job profile advertised, involved creative writing in the CULINARY DOMAIN such as writing and editing articles on cooking methods, recipies etc.

Hmm! Wow! In my whole work experience as a technical writer, this was a first time I heard of such a position. When I saw the advertisement, I was very curious and even tempted to apply as this position involved something that I am very passionate ...Cooking.

While I was savouring the excitement, culinary technical writer sounded intriguing to me. Hence, I started to dig deeper into the technical aspects of it. What language would a culinary technical writer would be talking to her audience? What would be the technical terms used in the culinary domain?

For example, when talking generally about preparing meals, one would tend to use the verb to cook. Similarlly, you can cook food or a meal: He's cooking dinner. or Add the vegetables and cook gently for few minutes.

You can boil vegetables, eggs, etc. by covering them with water and heating to the boiling point. You can also just boil the water: for example; I'm boiling the water for the noodles.
Or the container the water is in: Boil a large saucepan of water.

I probed more into the technical aspects of writing, especially from the grammar point of view. The past participle (-ed) of most cooking verbs can be used as an adjective before an item of food, for example: a warm breakfast or a cooked breakfast.

Hmmm so, do American English vs British English usage feature in culinary technical writing? Yes. For example, when british english says cooker the american english says stove. More examples:
British/American
bun tin / muffin pan
cooling tray / cooling rack
loaf tin / loaf pan
roasting tin / roasting pan
grill / broil

To be continued...

Quizzing myself!!!

Your Birthdate: June 17 Your birth on the 17th day of the month suggests that you are very lucky financially, because this date indicates a solid business sense. Although you are probably very honest and ethical, this birthday enables you to be shrewd and successful in the world of business and commercial enterprise. You have excellent organizational, managerial, and administrative capabilities enabling you to handle large projects and significant amounts of money with relative ease. You are ambitious and highly goal-oriented, although you may be better at starting projects than you are at finishing them. A sensitivity in your nature, often repressed below the surface of awareness, makes it hard to give or receive affection. What Does Your Birth Date Mean? Your Hidden Talent

Your natural talent is interpersonal relations and dealing with people. You communicate well and are able to bring disparate groups together. Your calming presence helps everything go more smoothly. People crave your praise and complements.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

Your Personality Profile

You are dreamy, peaceful, and young at heart. Optimistic and caring, you tend to see the best in people. You tend to be always smiling - and making others smile. You are shy and intelligent... and a very hard worker. You're also funny, but many people don't see your funny side. Your subtle dry humor leaves your close friends in stitches.

The World's Shortest Personality Test

Harry Potter Attack!

Just imagine a book making headlines of every national dailies! Yes! Harry Potter sore to the top spot on the 'best-selling charts' even before its release (The new Harry Potter book has sold 6.9 million copies in the US in its first 24 hours). The Harry Potter's magical world and magical charm continues.

A total novice on this phenomena, I was attacked by "Harry Potter" after seeing the movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban along with my young cousins. There's nothing quite like magic. Do you know your Hedwigs from your Hogwarts, the Malfoys from the Weasleys and a Hufflepuff from a Slytherin? No? Check out BBC News Online's essential guide to bluffing your way around the magical world of author JK Rowling.

Author JK Rowling appeared at Edinburgh Castle on Friday to mark the launch of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth book in the hugely popular series. I think it was a clever move to push the sales by 'pre-ordering' books to avoid the piracy market, which would hit once the book is released. For bookstores, Harry Potter books are 'cakewalk' sales. There is so much hype and excitement about the book that they really don't need to launch events. The children will turn up to buy the book anyway

Harry Potter and Half-blood Prince, is also be available in Brailey form and large prints for visually impaired Harry fans. Really Amazing! Hats off to The Royal National Institute of the Blind who ensured that the Braille copies of the novel were out on 16 July.

HAPPY READING!

Spice of life!!! 

Abbreviations

Abbreviations, a shortened form of a written word or phrase used in place of the whole. It began to proliferate in the 19th century and have been prevalent since; they are employed to reduce the time required for writing or speaking (...a big word for small mouthfulls). An abbreviation can now easily become a word, either as an initialism in which the letters are pronounced individually (e.g., TV or FBI) or as an acronym in which the letters are combined into syllables (e.g., scuba, laser, or NAFTA).

In casual converstions, DH stands for Dear Husband, Hubby. A lot of people use these abbreviations now like LOL for laugh out loud. Here's a few listed that I am aware of. Some are used on message boards and some while chatting online.

DW= dear wife
DD= dear daughter
DS= dear son
SIL= sister-in-law
BIL= bro-in-law
BRB = be right back
WB = welcome back
TY= thank you
TYVM = thank you very much
YW = you're welcome

There are more, I just cant think of them right now. Please add any that you might know.