Mental Shutdown Alert: Living Document

Term that causes mental shutdowns: living document

Rationale: Some glossaries state that “in a living document a topic is covered more completely over time” but I don’t see how that doesn’t apply to all documents. Aren’t all documents editable, with varying degrees of work required to edit them? It seems that the term “living document” is mainly used by people who want others to think print is dead. It just takes more time for the revisions to be published for printed material.

When a document updates itself it can be dubbed “living” but until then it’s a mechanical turk, with me as the part that’s alive.

Watch words: organic, ecosystems.

What won’t make my head explode: refer to it as “updating the document.”