On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 1:35 PM, Bill Fairchild <bi...@mainstar.com> wrote:
> Many repliers have emphasized clarity and precision. Although Mr. > Gilmore's word choice is sometimes arcane and obscure, nevertheless his > words under attack were not "big" or "complex" words; e.g., "ætat", having > only five letters, cannot possibly be characterized as "big", and its > meaning is instantly obvious given a knowledge of Latin roots, as was > "lacunae", also not a "big" word. Nor did he describe the OP as "naïve." > He said that the OP was "a naïf." These two words are not synonymous. > Naïve is an adjective and naïf is a noun, as he used it. If you take Mr. > Gilmore to task for lack of clarity and precision, then please be sure that > your post is just as clear and precise as you wish his had been. Were it > not for Mr. Gilmore's predilection for precise meanings, I would still be > ignorant of the words "antipode" and "boustrophedon" (the latter of which is > big, complex, and arcane, but amazingly precise). As I also do not have an > OED on my shelf, he often drives me h! > appily to an online English dictionary, into a word's etymology, and from > thence to further French, Greek, Italian, or even Icelandic dabbling. > I agree with your point about Mr. Gilmore's precision ... I'm sure that my writing lacks in this area. My issue is not with big or complex words, but with uncommon words. This list has people for whom English is not their native language. Surely we want to assist them with MVS related technical questions. There are also plain old guys like me who want/need the technical information without having to revisit English class with every email. Sam > > Bill Fairchild > Rocket Software > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:ibm-m...@bama.ua.edu] On > Behalf Of Ted MacNEIL > Sent: Monday, November 01, 2010 2:32 PM > To: IBM-MAIN@bama.ua.edu > Subject: Re: ATTACH > > >There's a lot to be said for vocabulary enhancement. > > Yes, but there is a lot to be said for communicating. > > >I'm tired of hearing that everything must be written for a 5th grade level > >audience. > > There's a reason for that. Most people are lucky if they can read at that > high > of a level. > > >What ever happened to 'look it up'? > > That's fine in the classroom;difficult in real life. > > The whole purpose of communicating is to communicate! > If your reader doesn't understand you, through the uses/abuse of > large/obscure > words or complex phraseology, it is not the reader's fault. > It is the fault of the writer. > > And, using those big words to answer the OP, did not solve the problem. > The calling of him naive was also insulting. > Just because somebody is a novice, is no reason to talk down to him. > If I had answers, I would have responded. > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO > Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO > Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
