“Ourselves among others”: A new metaphor for business and technical writing

Timothy Weiss University of Maine

Abstract

Business and technical writing grows out of a need to “build bridges” between ourselves and others. With today's diversifying readerships and increasingly global marketplace, business and industry face a new challenge that is reshaping our conception of business/technical writing and the metaphors of the genre. The metaphors of “selling” and “reader‐centeredness” demand especially to be recast and subordinated to a new metaphor of interculturalism/ internationalism—"ourselves among others.” Grounded in a social theory of language and communication, this new metaphor signifies that “bridge‐building” across differences will be the key in contexts becoming at once more heterogeneous and global.

Journal
Technical Communication Quarterly
Published
1992-06-01
DOI
10.1080/10572259209359504
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (16)

  1. Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
  5. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Show all 16 →
  1. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Written Communication
  3. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  6. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  7. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  8. Technical Communication Quarterly
  9. Technical Communication Quarterly
  10. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  11. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

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