A NOVICE ON ‘DOCUMENTATION’

I must confess that the word ‘documentation’ has always terrified me, and as a lover of the English language I wish a less formidable word could be found for this valuable, indeed vital, activity. Documentation, to a novice like myself, spells fust and must; dreary, bewhiskered old fossils; men whose souls are made of the parchment they handle. That this is not true I know from my contacts with members of Aslib, but I am quite sure the word frightens off many people who have not had that advantage.