Words matter. That is the lesson from this issue of the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication. Max Loges provides us with a brief but scintillating account of his interpretation as to how verbal abuse led to a Civil War defeat. And while those among us who are not Civil War buffs might wonder what this has to do with technical communication, if we think about it, most of us have shared the experience of being verbally dressed down at some point in our careers. What is the natural reaction to this? Ignoring the message. It is human nature to protect our egos when others assault us verbally. In industry, this unquestionably leads to lower productivity. In war, it leads to disaster.
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