This page intentionally left blank
Barney Phiph
I suspect the subject phrase seen so often in documents
is short for "this page was intentionally left blank",
but I always stumble on it because it sounds like it is
starting to say the page did something: it intentionally
left (something) blank. Should I continue to make my
boss mad by inserting the missing "was"? Should I be
inserting "has been"? Does anyone have a phrase that is
not self-contradictory like this one?
Donna Richoux
Barney Phiph <st...@me.org> wrote:
> I suspect the subject phrase seen so often in documents
> is short for "this page was intentionally left blank",
> but I always stumble on it because it sounds like it is
> starting to say the page did something: it intentionally
> left (something) blank. Should I continue to make my
> boss mad by inserting the missing "was"? Should I be
> inserting "has been"?
Omitting small words common practice. Skill easily acquired. Perhaps era
telegrams.
Best -- Donna Richoux
Gary Williams, Business Services Accounting
> I suspect the subject phrase seen so often in documents
> is short for "this page was intentionally left blank",
> but I always stumble on it because it sounds like it is
> starting to say the page did something: it intentionally
> left (something) blank.
I don't see a real problem with "this page intentionally left blank". "Left"
here is a participle used adjectivally, not a verb, so it doesn't need an
object. Of course, the phrase is not a full sentence, lacking a verb; but I
don't think it is meant to be.
Gary Williams
WILL...@AHECAS.AHEC.EDU
Kenneth Albanowski
In article <33683D06...@me.org>, Barney Phiph <st...@me.org> wrote:
>I suspect the subject phrase seen so often in documents
>is short for "this page was intentionally left blank",
>but I always stumble on it because it sounds like it is
>starting to say the page did something: it intentionally
>boss mad by inserting the missing "was"? Should I be
>not self-contradictory like this one?
Ah, but the original was coined (as far as I know) by IBM, and is a classic
example of their approach to documentation: the page is intentionally blank,
fine. But as it might only be accidentally blank (and thus missing important
information), we should notify the reader that it is intentionally left
blank. (I always count my blessings that they didn't use "DOC-2-1231s"
instead, where that is an error code you need to look up in the error
documentation that informs you that the page was intentionally left
blank...)
I suspect that leaving out the "was" (or "is") comes from the general
uneasiness at making this supposedly blank page containing any more words
then are absolutely necessary.
I think a far preferable solution is simply to make sure the page has a page
number, header, footer, etc., like all other pages. Therefore it is easy to
see that it was actually printed on, and therefore must be blank (without
text) intentionally. Or just don't have blank pages.
--
Kenneth Albanowski (kja...@kjahds.com)
P. Breathnach
Kenneth Albanowski <kja...@kjahds.com> wrote in article
<5kakm2$a...@kjahds.com>...
> Ah, but the original was coined (as far as I know) by IBM, and is a
classic
> example of their approach to documentation: the page is intentionally
blank,
> fine. But as it might only be accidentally blank (and thus missing
important
> information), we should notify the reader that it is intentionally left
> blank. (I always count my blessings that they didn't use "DOC-2-1231s"
> instead, where that is an error code you need to look up in the error
> documentation that informs you that the page was intentionally left
> blank...)
>
> I suspect that leaving out the "was" (or "is") comes from the general
> uneasiness at making this supposedly blank page containing any more >
words then are absolutely necessary.
>
If IBM wished to minimise the number of words, they should have omitted
"intenionally". Arguably also "This page" and "left". The word "blank" on
its own conveys the message.
Larry Krakauer
Gary Williams, Business Services Accounting wrote:
> In article <33683D06...@me.org>, Barney Phiph <st...@me.org> writes:
> > I suspect the subject phrase seen so often in documents
> > is short for "this page was intentionally left blank",
> > but I always stumble on it because it sounds like it is
> > starting to say the page did something: it intentionally
> > left (something) blank.
> I don't see a real problem with "this page intentionally left blank". "Left"
> here is a participle used adjectivally, not a verb, so it doesn't need an
> object. Of course, the phrase is not a full sentence, lacking a verb; but I
> don't think it is meant to be.
True as far as the grammar is concerned. However, the phrase is,
of course, still blatently incorrect. The page isn't blank, it
has this phrase written on it.
In a notebook passed out by a consultant we had in here to teach
some courses, such pages contained the sentence, "This page
intentionally contains no text other than this sentence." Of course,
he was a computer porogrammer. I wonder when he thinks the
next millennium starts?
--
Larry Krakauer (lar...@kronos.com)
Robert Lieblich
P. Breathnach wrote:
>
> If IBM wished to minimise the number of words, they should have omitted
> "intenionally". Arguably also "This page" and "left". The word "blank" on
> its own conveys the message.
But in the process you have simply empashized the obvious contradiction
this creates. There is nothing you can put on a blank page to indicate
that it is blank without destroying its blankness. It's a close
relative of such sentences as "Every rule has an exception" or "This
sentence is false." "This page is blank." Yeah, sure.
If precision is the goal, try something like "Nothing relating to the
content of this document appears on this page." Or just give it up and
go back to the words in the caption, which is what I always see. The
lack of a verb kinda takes the edge off the contradiction. Anyway, at
some point precision becomes pedantry, and I think I've crossed that
line myself.
Also, I was surprised to read that IBM started this practice. I first
saw it in military documents more than 35 years ago, and I always
assumed the military started it.
Bob Lieblich <lieb...@erols.com>
KimFore
Duncan wrote:
>There's a story about a comic book editor who wrote "Drop one inch" on
the >layout for the cover, and found that it was incorporated into the
final design. (The >story goes that they then had to come up with a story
with that title -- it was >about a parachutist dangling from a tree, just
an inch from the ground.)
This reminds me of when I ordered a birthday cake for my husband over the
phone. Since it was to be a German chocolate cake, I didn't want the
"Happy Birthday" message to be written in the usual icing letters because
it would ruin the coconut/walnut frosting that is critical to a good GC
cake. So I told them to write "Happy Birthday Pat" and asked if they
could use plastic letters.
At the party that night, I opened up the cake box to put in the candles
and discovered a lovely German chocolate cake with large icing letters
that spelled out "Happy Birthday Plastic Pat." I imagine that whoever
took the order over the phone wrote the word "plastic" somewhere next to
the inscription on the order form, which was carefully copied by the cake
decorator.
We had a good laugh over that one, and it's become a family tradition to
have "Plastic Pat" put on his birthday cakes every few years.
Kim in California, whose boss thinks she's working...
P. Breathnach
Truly Donovan
Kenneth Albanowski wrote:
>
> Ah, but the original was coined (as far as I know) by IBM, and is a classic
> example of their approach to documentation: the page is intentionally blank,
> fine. But as it might only be accidentally blank (and thus missing important
> information), we should notify the reader that it is intentionally left
> blank.
Slander! IBM is not responsible for this idiocy. Indeed, for the most
part IBM's blank pages used to be genuinely blank pages, in order to
save the money spent on pointing a camera at a page with nothing but a
page number on it and making a neg and plating it up. I suspect that
they don't do that any more because it is probably cheaper still to
leave the page number in place as most books are shipped to the printer
in the form of PostScript files these days.
Some IBM publishing shops used it because they came from mil spec
backgrounds, but they didn't invent it.
If anyone is responsible, it is most likely to be the Department of
Defense, which I believe still requires its use in military specs.
>
> I think a far preferable solution is simply to make sure the page has a page
> number, header, footer, etc., like all other pages. Therefore it is easy to
> see that it was actually printed on, and therefore must be blank (without
> text) intentionally.
This is a reasonable solution to the problem the "this page" legend is
supposed to be solving today because most page composition today is
fully automated, but in the olden days, when pages tended to be pasted
up, it was perfectly possible to have a page that was unintentionally
left blank, even though it had a folio on it.
--
Truly Donovan
"Industrial-strength SGML," Prentice Hall 1996
ISBN 0-13-216243-1
http://www.prenhall.com
Truly Donovan
P. Breathnach wrote:
>
> If IBM wished to minimise the number of words, they should have omitted
> "intenionally". Arguably also "This page" and "left". The word "blank" on
> its own conveys the message.
The practice did not originate with IBM. Spoofs of the practice were
familiar at IBM, however, included one that began "This page
intentionally left almost blank..." and proceeded for another page and a
half.
Truly Donovan
Robert Lieblich wrote:
> Also, I was surprised to read that IBM started this practice. I first
> saw it in military documents more than 35 years ago, and I always
> assumed the military started it.
Not as surprised as IBM, I'm sure.
Truly Donovan
P. Breathnach wrote:
>
>
A compelling commentary.
John Nurick
On 1 May 97 09:17:48 MST, will...@ahecas.ahec.edu (Gary Williams,
Business Services Accounting) wrote:
>I don't see a real problem with "this page intentionally left blank".
The only problem I see is that the page is not actually blank. The
nicest solution is to put the word "Notes" at the top of the otherwise
blank page: works just as well, and fools the readers into thinking
you care about them.
John
NB: to e-mail me, strip the antispam backslang from my address!
Truly Donovan
John Nurick wrote:
>
> On 1 May 97 09:17:48 MST, will...@ahecas.ahec.edu (Gary Williams,
> Business Services Accounting) wrote:
>
> >I don't see a real problem with "this page intentionally left blank".
>
> The only problem I see is that the page is not actually blank. The
> nicest solution is to put the word "Notes" at the top of the otherwise
> blank page: works just as well, and fools the readers into thinking
> you care about them.
You have to be careful with that one, too, or the mini-minds will
butcher it as well. In the 60s, in our development laboratory in NYC, on
the bulletin board where the department wags posted the idiocies
produced by the hick development laboratories in the boonies, was a page
taken from a manual that read, "This page intentionally left blank. It
may be used for notes." Our local wag added a mocked-up version that
read, "Do not write in this space."
Barney Phiph
John Nurick wrote:
>
> On 1 May 97 09:17:48 MST, will...@ahecas.ahec.edu (Gary Williams,
> Business Services Accounting) wrote:
>
> >I don't see a real problem with "this page intentionally left blank".
>
> The only problem I see is that the page is not actually blank. The
> nicest solution is to put the word "Notes" at the top of the otherwise
> blank page: works just as well, and fools the readers into thinking
> you care about them.
None of the responses to my original post have referred
to the aspect of this phrase that most bothers me. I
was hoping to get some support tending to help stamp out
non-mandated use of this phrase. The phrase starts out
"this page intentionally". Before my mind processes
"left blank" it stumbles and complains that a page cannot
have intentions. This reader-unfriendly phrase could
easily be made friendly by the addition of a "was". If
one feels the need to be brief (on an otherwise blank
page), then replace the redundant "intentionally" with
"was" or simply use "page blank".
Markus Laker
Truly Donovan <nospam...@lunemere.com>:
>
> P. Breathnach wrote:
> >
> >
>
> A compelling commentary.
It was -- I presume -- intentionally left blank.
Markus Laker.
--
If you quote me, I would appreciate an email copy of your article.
Bot fodder: lon...@symphony.orchestra.org
Peter Schultz
Barney Phiph wrote:
> //snip//
> John Nurick wrote:then replace the redundant "intentionally" with
> "was" or simply use "page blank".
That's best. The fewer words in the sentence, the less false it is.
Duncan McKenzie
P. Breathnach wrote in article <01bc568a$b23318e0$142c7dc2@default>...
>
>
Nice one! It took me a while to get it.
Duncan McKenzie
Toronto, Canada
Lee Rudolph
Forget the Left Blank. What's the Quartier Latin?
Lee Rudolph, a man of sometimes bad intentions
John Nurick
On Fri, 02 May 1997 23:16:14 -0400, Peter Schultz <schu...@erols.com>
wrote:
I think one of the ">"s might have been mine, but I didn't write any
of the words. Please be more careful with your attributions.
John Doherty
In article <5kakm2$a...@kjahds.com>, kja...@kjahds.com (Kenneth Albanowski) wrote:
[re: blank pages and what might or might not be printed on them]
| I think a far preferable solution is simply to make sure the page has a
| page number, header, footer, etc., like all other pages.
This is contrary to the traditional standards of book production.
Blanks should just be blank: no folios, no running heads, no self-
contradictory statements about their blankness, etc.
| Therefore it is easy to see that it was actually printed on, and
| therefore must be blank (without text) intentionally.
It seems that the easiest way to leave a page blank is to just leave it
blank. What specific problem are you trying to solve here? Do you often
find yourself confused upon encountering a blank page in a book? If not,
why do you suppose that other people are? Do you frequently encounter
books with unintentionally blank pages?
| Or just don't have blank pages.
Depending on the design of the book, that's not always possible. What
do you think should be printed on the last page of a book? It's always
a left-hand, even-numbered page. If there is no content to go on it,
would you still print a running head and folio?
Albert Marshall
In article <5kklsv$a...@diamond.xara.net>, Timothy Hunt <english@timoth
y.org.uk.NO.SPAM> writes
>In article <jdoherty-050...@aus-tx5-02.ix.netcom.com>,
>John Doherty <jdoh...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>>
>>It seems that the easiest way to leave a page blank is to just leave it
>>blank. What specific problem are you trying to solve here? Do you often
>
>with blank pages. Having something printed to say that page should
>be blank is really reassuring that you arent' missing something.
>The exam result coudl depend on it.
My main problem with this entire thread is "Why leave so many blank
pages that it manages to cause this controversy?"
I used to be involved in microfilmimg mil-spec manuals for aerospace
systems and the number of intentional blanks always surprised me.
--
Albert Marshall
Executive French
Language Training for Businesses in Kent
01634 400902
Truly Donovan
John Doherty wrote:
>
> This is contrary to the traditional standards of book production.
The traditional standards of book production have nothing to do with mil
spec. The page-left-blank mechanism is a convention to ensure that,
for instance, when you are executing an aircraft maintenance procedure,
you and your future passengers and crew are not jeopardized by a
production error resulting in an unintentional blank page. A genuinely
blank page should cause you to interrupt the procedure and check with an
authority. The condition is aggravated in this type of publishing
because some correctly blank pages are also recto pages, an idiosyncrasy
rarely found in traditional book production.
David Edmondson
Albert Marshall (alb...@execfrog.demon.co.uk) wrote:
: My main problem with this entire thread is "Why leave so many blank
: pages that it manages to cause this controversy?"
: I used to be involved in microfilmimg mil-spec manuals for aerospace
: systems and the number of intentional blanks always surprised me.
When manuals are updated only the changed pages are distributed, they come
with a change notice which tells the person who has to keep them updated
which pages should go where. You end up with plenty of blank sides.
Dave
--
David Edmondson dav...@cre.canon.co.uk
Voice : +44 1483 448865 Fax: +44 1483 448845
Canon Research Centre Europe Ltd, 20 Alan Turing Road,
Surrey Research Park, Guildford, Surrey. GU2 5YF U.K.
Mike Barnes
In alt.usage.english, Peter Schultz <schu...@erols.com> spake thuswise:
>
>Barney Phiph wrote:
>> //snip//
>> John Nurick wrote:then replace the redundant "intentionally" with
>> "was" or simply use "page blank".
>
>That's best. The fewer words in the sentence, the less false it is.
I'm not so sure. Either it's blank or it isn't.
"This page intentionally *not* left blank" is accurate and meaningful.
--
-- Mike Barnes, Stockport, England.
-- If you post a response to Usenet, please *don't* send me a copy by e-mail.
John Cowan
My favorite version:
Except for this irritating little notice,
this page has been intentionally left blank.
--
John Cowan co...@ccil.org
e'osai ko sarji la lojban
Dr. Peter Kittel
In article <jdoherty-050...@aus-tx5-02.ix.netcom.com> jdoh...@ix.netcom.com (John Doherty) writes:
>In article <5kakm2$a...@kjahds.com>, kja...@kjahds.com (Kenneth Albanowski) wrote:
How about printing there: "No relevant contents on this page". This
would not lead into any contradiction like in the Subject version.
>| Therefore it is easy to see that it was actually printed on, and
>| therefore must be blank (without text) intentionally.
>
>It seems that the easiest way to leave a page blank is to just leave it
>blank. What specific problem are you trying to solve here?
If I see a blank page I wonder, was that intentional or accidental?
There are situations where this cannot be decided from context and
where missing contents could mean desaster.
> Do you often
>find yourself confused upon encountering a blank page in a book?
Yes, it happens. In a "normal" book, the issue can often be solved
from the context, but not always. As someone else already noted,
this can happen more easily in technical documentation where it also
can be more crucial.
--
Best Regards, Dr. Peter Kittel // http://www.pios.de of PIOS
Private Site in Frankfurt, Germany \X/ office: pet...@pios.de
Donna Richoux
Dr. Peter Kittel <pet...@combo.ganesha.com> wrote:
> anno...@lublin.zrz.TU-Berlin.DE (Anno Siegel) writes:
> >Dr. Peter Kittel <pet...@combo.ganesha.com> wrote in alt.usage.english:
> >
> >>How about printing there: "No relevant contents on this page". This
> >>would not lead into any contradiction like in the Subject version.
> >
> >Yes, but... If you don't think the notice relevant, why print it?
>
> Well, it's relevant that there is printed something to demonstrate that
> the page is not accidentally empty, so the existance of the printing is
> relevant, but not the contents of it. Perhaps one could print some nice
> logo, pictogram, or pattern there instead?
Yeah! Like a smiley face! When words fail us...
Best wishes --- Donna Richoux
Dan Strychalski
Dr. Peter Kittel (pet...@combo.ganesha.com) wrote --
> Well, it's relevant that there is printed something to demonstrate that
> the page is not accidentally empty, so the existance of the printing is
> relevant, but not the contents of it. Perhaps one could print some nice
> logo, pictogram, or pattern there instead?
As a technical writer, I've had to deal with this problem, and Dr.
Kittel's solution is one of several that I have used and (naturally)
think are better than "This page intentionally left blank."
If the document is in typescript and the specs require that content-free
pages be labeled (AND if you can choose your own method of labeling
them), it seems sensible to print something like "Content continues on
following page. This page inserted for pagination purposes [or `to
facilitate upgrades of the manual', or whatever]."
In a typeset document, if it is convenient to use graphics, you might
consider ending each section or chapter with a small in-line figure, as
is done in many magazines to signal the end of an article. Another method
is to put a hairline rule at the bottom of the content-free page, perhaps
with a graphic below the end of the line opposite the binding. In a
product manual, a company logo can often be used for either of these
purposes. My clients love it.
I disliked seeing "Notes" at the top of a page even before I became a
technical writer. My reaction was, who are YOU to tell ME where to put my
notes? As a writer, I feel that inviting people to scribble on one's own
work suggests lack of self-respect or lack of pride in the work.
Dan Strychalski -- dski at cameonet cameo com tw (not twx as above).
Albert Marshall
One of my favourite pieces of graffiti was "This wall intentionally left
blank"
Albert
Lisa Reeve
Albert Marshall <alb...@execfrog.demon.co.uk> wrote in article
<0MgBcLAL...@execfrog.demon.co.uk>...
> My main problem with this entire thread is "Why leave so many blank
> pages that it manages to cause this controversy?"
>
> I used to be involved in microfilmimg mil-spec manuals for aerospace
> systems and the number of intentional blanks always surprised me.
I work in the documentation department of a bank, and we use blank pages in
instruction manuals for two reasons.
The main reason is that we want each new chapter to start on an odd page.
If we have an odd number of pages in the chapter, we need to leave the last
even page blank so that the next chapter starts on an odd page.
Another reason is that sometimes we reissue a few pages of a manual as an
amendment, instead of reissuing the entire manual. If a few paragraphs are
deleted, we won't bother to reissue the entire manual; we'll just reissue
the amended pages. When we get around to reprinting the entire manual, wee
remove any blank pages which have crept in during the amendment process.
(We don't use "This page intentionally left blank", either. We assume that
just printing headers and footers on blank pages is enough to cue the
reader to the fact that we meant to do it that way.)
Mary F. Heath
On 1997/05/08 Janet Fairchild & Tak Nakamoto wrote:
>[...]
>1) Who said, "Living well is the best revenge"? (Never mind whether he was right!)
Whether *he* was right? When a source is unknown, it is sometimes a man
but might have been a woman. In this case, it happens to have been a
man quoting another man quoting persons unknown.
_Living well is the best revenge_ is the title of a book by Calvin
Tomkins (NY: Viking, orig.pub. 1962). It's about Gerald and Sara Murphy,
an American couple who moved to Europe in 1921 and presided over social
gatherings of the rich and famous at their villa on the French Riviera.
One of their frequent guests, F. Scott Fitzgerald, limned the
characteristics of the main characters in _Tender Is the Night_ from
this couple.
From the dust jacket: "Sara is in love with life and skeptical of
people," Gerald once said. "I'm the other way. I believe you have to do
things to life to make it tolerable. I've always liked the old Spanish
proverb: 'Living well is the best revenge.'"
From p. 126: "There is a mordant Spanish proverb that Gerald Murphy
once discovered: 'Living well is the best revenge.' In the years after
they left Europe, the Murphys continued to live as well as their
somewhat reduced circumstances allowed, first in Manhattan ... ."
>2) What is the past tense of "sneak"? "Snuck" was my immediate
answer, but "sneaked" also sounds correct and "snuck" sure looks funny
in print . . .
In the U.S., "snuck" is fine in colloquial or informal use but in
standard English, especially in a formal context, would be as
appropriate as a keg of beer at a tea party.
William Morris & Mary Morris, _Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage_
(Harper, 1975) state this opinion:
"*Snuck* as in 'He *snuck* away after the movie' is a Dialect variant
of 'sneaked,' admissible only in Informal contexts, usually as a bit of
jocosity." (p. 636)
Say "snuck" after you get the job, if you want, but not during the job
interview.
Mary Heath
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm;
the Lord will requite him for his deeds."
- Bible, 2 Timothy 4:14
From a letter attributed to Saint Paul, in a not so saintly mood
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
BILLM...@delphi.com
Quoting MikeBarnes<mike from a message in alt.usage.english
>>
>>That's best. The fewer words in the sentence, the less false it is.
>I'm not so sure. Either it's blank or it isn't.
>"This page intentionally *not* left blank" is accurate and meaningful.
"By design, this page contains no useful information
other than this sentence."
Bill McCray
Lexington, KY
(BillMcCray at delphi dot com)
Brian J Goggin
>On 1997/05/08 Janet Fairchild & Tak Nakamoto wrote:
>>[...]
>>1) Who said, "Living well is the best revenge"? (Never mind whether he was right!)
[...]
>_Living well is the best revenge_ is the title of a book by Calvin
>Tomkins (NY: Viking, orig.pub. 1962). It's about Gerald and Sara Murphy,
[...]
Well done, Mary. I checked several dictionaries of quotations but I
couldn't find it.
bjg
Gwen Lenker
Mary F. Heath <mhe...@goldrush.com> wrote in article
<33733F...@goldrush.com>...
> On 1997/05/08 Janet Fairchild & Tak Nakamoto wrote:
> >[...]
> >1) Who said, "Living well is the best revenge"? (Never mind whether he
was right!)
>
> but might have been a woman.
Or it might have been a boy, or it might have been a girl, or it might have
been a preoperative transsexual, or it might have been a talking
chimpanzee, unless one happens to remember that it *was* a man, though the
name still eludes one.
Many of us who had the "generic he" drummed into our heads at an early age
continue to use it without believing that it precisely indicates the sex of
the person to whom it refers.
Adam E. Schwartz
If the "blank" pages are included at the end of the document to
make the book thick enough for binding, printing "Notes" at the
top of the pages is the best solution. Folks will ignore it
if they don't care about jotting notes. And it's better than
printing page numbers and footers, or "This page intentionally..."
or some variation. However, with today's binding technologies,
adding filler pages shouldn't be required these days.
But if the "blank" pages appear at the end of chapters, printing
just headers and footers (and numbering the pages) is what
I do (it's company style).
--Adam
Lisa Reeve (jabb...@very.net) wrote:
: (We don't use "This page intentionally left blank", either. We assume that
: just printing headers and footers on blank pages is enough to cue the
: reader to the fact that we meant to do it that way.)
--
-----
Adam Schwartz, schw...@rsn.hp.com
# # #