There are three different types of notice up now, encouraging the collective 'you' to jolly well put your cups in the dishwasher and clear up after yourself, you lazy bunch of antisocial slackers. It doesn't say that last bit - I made that up but it's certainly there in the subtext. On the face of it, this new addition to the cavalcade of kitchen cupboard communiqués just says, 'Tidy Up Please!'
I've always had a bit of a soft spot for condescending notices. I have a little chuckle to myself as I imagine someone sitting at a keyboard, furiously thumping in the words: 'DO NOT LEAVE THIS DOOR OPEN' or 'STANDING ON THE TOILET SEAT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN' or whatever other earth-shattering crime has gotten their goat this week. They always seem quite angry.
"Where the flip is the double-underline? Why can't Microsoft just..."
"You what?"
"The double-underline. How do you get this thing double-underlined?"
"Oh. I don't know. But do you really need it double-underlined?"
"Yes!"
"And just normal underlined won't do?"
"Of course not! This is really important! It's vital that people get the message and stop leaving their..."
"You could bold it?"
"Oh they won't understand that! They'll just ignore it in bold; bold's not strong enough, pah! No, I've got to underline it twice, put it in caps, make it stand out so people will finally take it seriously."
"Right."
"I suppose I could bold it as well though!"
"Yep, and maybe turn it red?"
"And turn it red. Of course! And make it a bigger font. That'll show 'em."
I don't know why I find it so amusing. Clearly the person who wrote it isn't amused - they're fed up of stacking the dishwasher every night.
My instinct though, as a kind-of technical communicator, is that readers have a natural inclination for rebellion against the strongly-worded notice. This actually makes it an increasingly less effective strategy, to backup a strongly-worded notice... with another strongly-worded notice. The law of diminishing returns means that each one has less effect than the last, despite the writer getting proportionally more infuriated.
"And just normal underlined won't do?"
"Of course not! This is really important! It's vital that people get the message and stop leaving their..."
"You could bold it?"
"Oh they won't understand that! They'll just ignore it in bold; bold's not strong enough, pah! No, I've got to underline it twice, put it in caps, make it stand out so people will finally take it seriously."
"Right."
"I suppose I could bold it as well though!"
"Yep, and maybe turn it red?"
"And turn it red. Of course! And make it a bigger font. That'll show 'em."
I don't know why I find it so amusing. Clearly the person who wrote it isn't amused - they're fed up of stacking the dishwasher every night.
My instinct though, as a kind-of technical communicator, is that readers have a natural inclination for rebellion against the strongly-worded notice. This actually makes it an increasingly less effective strategy, to backup a strongly-worded notice... with another strongly-worded notice. The law of diminishing returns means that each one has less effect than the last, despite the writer getting proportionally more infuriated.
The strongly-worded notice's impersonal differentiation of 'you' and 'us' splits our world into two groups of people: the people who want us to keep off the grass and the people (us, well me, anyway) who are sorely tempted to trample all over it. Whenever there's someone trying to segregate us, our instinct is not a positive one.
By making a sign, the angry keyboard warrior marks themselves in the 'obey us or else' club while pointing the finger at the world. It's an attempt to bundle us all together like the scoundrels we are, when we can't even be bothered washing up our coffee cups.
At a guess, I'd say that's why the previous signs didn't work.
By making a sign, the angry keyboard warrior marks themselves in the 'obey us or else' club while pointing the finger at the world. It's an attempt to bundle us all together like the scoundrels we are, when we can't even be bothered washing up our coffee cups.
At a guess, I'd say that's why the previous signs didn't work.
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