With all due respect, please keep in mind English, being universally available -- and most often broken/incorrect/improper, has morphed from a means of "communication" to simply "information interchange". At least, that's how I perceive it. With so many different nations using English, and all walks of life butchering it, it seems the only real use of it is to inform. What convinced me of this? I always hear people say "I don't know how to say what I'm feeling". In our vast technological superiority, we've yet to produce a new generation of Shakespeares, Longfellows, Frosts, Chaucers, Alighieris, Fitzgeralds, and more. Society has shifted from "reading to enjoy" to "reading to inform". I die a little when I hear someone say "You think you're so smart because you use big words" -- even when those words were commonplace less than 5 years ago. Fluidity of writing and proper spelling are drowning in the sea of "get the point across without wasting my time".

You have described what I call the "crisis of attention span" that has infiltrated most areas of life. Very few people think analytically about much of anything, and, of course, the "news" media has done nothing to alleviate the problem. I work with a lot of very competent technical people who are borderline functional illiterates.

It's interesting that the scientists and physicists of the Renaissance were known as "Natural Philosophers." They really had a much more coherent view of the universe. The "Renaissance Man" absolutely HAD to be fluent in fields outside the lab or workshop.

It's been said that language is the currency of thought. If this is the case, I fear we're on the precipice of a great intellectual depression.

Eric

 

"crisis of attention span"

I agree with just about everything you say in that post.

There are still signs of hope though.

If you wish to read an author that packs (almost) more thought, pleasure and information into each word he writes than the whole of that Pope sentence, read Gerald Seymour.
You really do have to pay full attention to one of his most excellent novels as every word counts.

 

I must admit that AAC is about the most disciplined and well structured platform i have ever visited, most likely due to the forum rules and the awareness created by threads like this. To illustrate, note the horrendous difference between AAC and this other forum i stumbled upon sometime ago:

http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t47593-p2-which-is-the-best-mcse-or-ccie.html

 

You have described what I call the "crisis of attention span" that has infiltrated most areas of life. Very few people think analytically about much of anything, and, of course, the "news" media has done nothing to alleviate the problem. I work with a lot of very competent technical people who are borderline functional illiterates.

It's interesting that the scientists and physicists of the Renaissance were known as "Natural Philosophers." They really had a much more coherent view of the universe. The "Renaissance Man" absolutely HAD to be fluent in fields outside the lab or workshop.

It's been said that language is the currency of thought. If this is the case, I fear we're on the precipice of a great intellectual depression.

Eric

Agreed Eric, and I think what you say is borne out in a lot of published work these days; I am not specifically pin pointing extended literary pieces, more conference and even journal publications, which, I might suggest controversially, are by and large of a very poor quality. This is in part down to two things; firstly, the tech community has an obsession with publishing everything and anything irrespective of how useful the work actually is, and secondly, the standard of English used to communicate the material is so low that it presents a barrier to digesting and understanding the content of the material. Paradoxically, these two factor are probably deliberate.

Dave

 

I must admit that AAC is about the most disciplined and well structured platform i have ever visited, most likely due to the forum rules and the awareness created by threads like this. To illustrate, note the horrendous difference between AAC and this other forum i stumbled upon sometime ago:

http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t47593-p2-which-is-the-best-mcse-or-ccie.html

Thanks circuitashes, we try to keep the standard as high as possible.

From what I can see, that thread is from a decentralised newsgroup. Sadly many newsgroups are like that; however, you are right in what you say, it is nigh-on incomprehensible.

Dave

 

Circuit Ashes

I thought that your thread was 'Just William and the Outlaws' posturing.

 

Don't I wish! I only get a royalty check from the publisher based on the number of books the house sells.

Kl7AJ,

I don't know what arrangements there are for US authors, but there seems to be some arrangement for foreign authors to receive monies in various European countries.

There is a New Zealnad one on the wen as well.

http://www.plr.uk.com/registrationservice/forms/einfo.pdf

Hope the earthquake didn't adversely affect you.

 

circuitashes,

To illustrate, note the horrendous difference between AAC and this other forum i stumbled upon sometime ago:

http://www.velocityreviews.com/forum...e-or-ccie.html

Wow, those guys are really rude, lewd, crude dudes. They seem to be more interested in the size of their reproductive organs than a technical discussion. At least they don't seem to have posted pictures to prove their points yet.

Ratch

 

Wow, those guys are really rude, lewd, crude dudes. They seem to be more interested in the size of their reproductive organs than a technical discussion. At least they don't seem to have posted pictures to prove their points yet.

Ratch

Give it time Ratch, this is the Internet remember!

Dave

 

What an interesting topic. Sorry, my english is not perfect at all, I had no practise for seven years don't know about english, but practically all russian scientific books are written in such a strange manner... sometimes it seemed authors don't want their works to be understood at all. Phrase for 8-9 lines in a usual thing, and when you are reading the ending you don't remember what was at the beginning. But I know that the same things can be explained much more simple! So why is it done for? just because people with good technic knowlege mostly are helpless with the words?

 

Poor and confusing technical writing is probably universal. Technical explanations are surprisingly hard to write and be clearly understood. But I think I'm happy that I have never had to wade through a Russian text.

One of the reasons for bad technical writing in the U.S. is that companies employ so-called 'technical writers'. The development engineers hand the technical writers descriptions and specifications for new devices/processes, and the tech writers are supposed to produce documentation for publication.

Of course, the tech writers may have limited or no knowledge of the product/process/technical jargon, so their efforts may suffer for it. I don't know if the engineers ever review the material before it becomes user manuals, etc.

 

Poor and confusing technical writing is probably universal. Technical explanations are surprisingly hard to write and be clearly understood. But I think I'm happy that I have never had to wade through a Russian text.

One of the reasons for bad technical writing in the U.S. is that companies employ so-called 'technical writers'. The development engineers hand the technical writers descriptions and specifications for new devices/processes, and the tech writers are supposed to produce documentation for publication.

Of course, the tech writers may have limited or no knowledge of the product/process/technical jargon, so their efforts may suffer for it. I don't know if the engineers ever review the material before it becomes user manuals, etc.

Every once in a while one runs across a technical paper that's a real joy. Even better, if you find that in a Doctoral thesis. I read such a gem from a recent PhD in Norway, who wrote a brilliant, literary, and entertaining thesis on the Aurora. The problem is, these usually get buried in university archives. (Actually, this is where mose of these SHOULD be buried...but there a delightful exceptions).

Eric