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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rambi who wrote (80131)	1/6/2004 12:02:33 PM
From: The Philosopher	Respond to of 82486

I managed to work "gaulimaufry" into a Christmas letter after it was my email Word of the Day and was very proud. Do you think Strunk and White would have approved? <g> Actually, as they say, there is no such thing as a bad word. Well, maybe a few, but not many. I used to tell my students that I judged their writing on three things. First, did they have something worth saying? Second, how clearly and effectively did their writing communicate what they wanted to say? Third, how enjoyable was their writing to read? (All that, of course, comes after correct mechanics, but after the first week of my classes they knew that!) If a word is the best word for a given situation, then it's the best word. It's just that I seldom find words such as beauteous and gaulimaufry to be the best word for a given situation. One reason I detest much -- maybe most -- academic writing is that it violates at least two and usually all three of my principles. First, there is seldom something worth saying; rather, the writing is written for the purpose of getting something published. Second, very few academics really want to communicate clearly and effectively -- if they did, the vacuity of their thinking would be quickly exposed. But slather enough verbiage on an idea and few people will be willing to call it bad writing because they're afraid their inability to understand what is being said will be taken as a weakness on their part, not the author's. Third, well, anybody who reads academic writing knows it's seldom enjoyable to read.