The part that jumped out at me was right at the beginning:
"1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Do not exceed 400 degrees F."
Why did they feel the need to repeat themselves there? The first line of the directions was pretty clear: 400 degrees. I can't complete that step and at the same time exceed 400 degrees, so there's no real need to have the second line.
The only reason one could possibly need the second line is if the author of the directions ASSUMED that readers were going to ignore the first line. But if they're going to ignore the first line, why would the author of the directions assume readers were going to follow the second line, either? They might ignore that, too. Maybe the author should have added the same line a THIRD time in case the reader decided to ignore the second line. And if we keep going, we'll end up with something like this:
"1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Do not exceed 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Make sure the oven is preheated to 400 degrees and not even a little bit over it.
No, not even 401 degrees Fahrenheit.
I know what you're thinking--how much of a problem can one little degree make? Trust me. You don't want to find out!
Just take my word for it--don't go beyond 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Don't make me come to your house. Set the @#@#@$@#@ oven to 400 degrees!
In fact, considering the inaccuracy of YOUR oven, you might want to back it up to 375 or maybe even 350."
The directions could end up being PAGES long.
Then again, if they WERE pages long, I'd have time to read them, because this thing takes an hour and a half to cook!
