Bad writing
06/10/14 04:38
A question to begin today’s blog: Why is there so much bad writing in our society today? You don’t have to look far to find examples of really poor use of the English language in writing. Some days there are plenty of examples right in this blog. If you need to look farther, check out any daily newspaper, or the papers high school and college students are turning in. Check our the reports that members of organizations make or the minutes of virtually any public meeting. Read any legal document. Try to follow the instructions for the use of any computer, router, printer or other modern technology. There are no shortages of examples of misuse and outright abuse of our language in contemporary writing.
It is a topic that that we frequently address when I am talking with my colleagues about the task of teaching. Two theories about the reason for so much bad writing in our society are most prevalent. The first is that people write poorly with the express intent of misleading others. Legislators believe that they might later be held responsible for the laws they write, so they use a lot of jargon and obfuscation to intentionally make the legislation subjects to interpretation that might later be used to justify a change in position. Engineers intentionally hide behind poorly written documents because they want to maintain a body of private information known only to engineers, thus assuring their elite status in society and their continued employment. They want to live in a world where some things are easy to them and a mystery to the general public.
The problem with this theory is that I know too many people who don’t fit into that example. I know lawyers who want to make things clear and who are interested in increasing understanding. I know engineers who write beautifully and who are interested in clear, concise communication.
The second theory about why there is so much bad writing is that modern technologies are somehow subverting the language. Twitter makes us think that you might be able to express a complex thought in 140 characters. Texting with phones encourages misspelling and grammar mistakes. Smart technology is making us dumber, if you follow this theory.
The problem with the second theory is that there is nothing new about bad writing. I read a lot of poorly written papers when I was a college student. My colleagues handed in papers in graduate school that were abysmal. Teachers and scholars have been complaining about bad writing for decades. I remember a game that my family got when I was a kid with instructions on how to play so poorly written that we couldn’t figure out the rules of the game and ended up making up our own game and rules. If modern technology was the source of bad writing, why was there so much bad writing so long ago?
Here is my operational theory for today. I believe that the source of bad writing is that people don’t read enough. I’m sure that it takes more than a voracious appetite for reading to make a good writer, but there is something about reading well-crafted sentences and wondering what it is about that sentence that makes it so engaging that inspires one to work harder at one’s writing. I know that a stint as an editor made a better writer out of me. I do not claim to be a good writer, but I do think that reading is critical to the formation of good writing.
My theory was strengthened by a meeting I attended yesterday. It was a church meeting (surprise! surprise!). One of the questions raised at the meeting was something like this: “Why do we have to ask permission from others in the church? Why can’t we make our own decisions?” I was trying to bite my tongue and not be argumentative at the time, but the answer is so clear to me. It is right in the Bible: 1 Corinthians 12: “But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’”
We are all members of the same church. We all have the same Bible, but we don’t all spend much time reading that book.
Actually, I think that there are a lot of people who don’t do much reading at all.
I love oral language. I speak in public for a living. I have spent decades crafting the ability to speak clearly and to discern the differences between effective speech and effective writing. I have been known to chide my colleagues for trying to confuse the two modes of communication. I’m no fan of listening to someone who poorly reads a written document.
But make no mistake about it, I believe that written language also has its place. There are times when writing is the best way to communicate. There are times when writing has qualities that speech cannot imitate, not the least of which is that people can and may read something you have written long after you have died. Writing has a permanence that is a value. When you commit words to paper you really are making a commitment.
I am convinced that writing is not dead. A few great words will survive this generation and the way they will be accessed by future generations is by reading. And the words of our scriptures that have informed generations of faithful people will continue to inspire and inform long after the span of our lives is finished. There are yet many more generations who will appreciate the great words that have been written.
So I keep writing.
And I keep reading.
Sometimes it frustrates me a great deal to have to wade through so much bad writing. But when I discover that single sentence, perfectly crafted, filled with depth of meaning and weight of purpose, everything else fades away and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to read.
It is a topic that that we frequently address when I am talking with my colleagues about the task of teaching. Two theories about the reason for so much bad writing in our society are most prevalent. The first is that people write poorly with the express intent of misleading others. Legislators believe that they might later be held responsible for the laws they write, so they use a lot of jargon and obfuscation to intentionally make the legislation subjects to interpretation that might later be used to justify a change in position. Engineers intentionally hide behind poorly written documents because they want to maintain a body of private information known only to engineers, thus assuring their elite status in society and their continued employment. They want to live in a world where some things are easy to them and a mystery to the general public.
The problem with this theory is that I know too many people who don’t fit into that example. I know lawyers who want to make things clear and who are interested in increasing understanding. I know engineers who write beautifully and who are interested in clear, concise communication.
The second theory about why there is so much bad writing is that modern technologies are somehow subverting the language. Twitter makes us think that you might be able to express a complex thought in 140 characters. Texting with phones encourages misspelling and grammar mistakes. Smart technology is making us dumber, if you follow this theory.
The problem with the second theory is that there is nothing new about bad writing. I read a lot of poorly written papers when I was a college student. My colleagues handed in papers in graduate school that were abysmal. Teachers and scholars have been complaining about bad writing for decades. I remember a game that my family got when I was a kid with instructions on how to play so poorly written that we couldn’t figure out the rules of the game and ended up making up our own game and rules. If modern technology was the source of bad writing, why was there so much bad writing so long ago?
Here is my operational theory for today. I believe that the source of bad writing is that people don’t read enough. I’m sure that it takes more than a voracious appetite for reading to make a good writer, but there is something about reading well-crafted sentences and wondering what it is about that sentence that makes it so engaging that inspires one to work harder at one’s writing. I know that a stint as an editor made a better writer out of me. I do not claim to be a good writer, but I do think that reading is critical to the formation of good writing.
My theory was strengthened by a meeting I attended yesterday. It was a church meeting (surprise! surprise!). One of the questions raised at the meeting was something like this: “Why do we have to ask permission from others in the church? Why can’t we make our own decisions?” I was trying to bite my tongue and not be argumentative at the time, but the answer is so clear to me. It is right in the Bible: 1 Corinthians 12: “But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’”
We are all members of the same church. We all have the same Bible, but we don’t all spend much time reading that book.
Actually, I think that there are a lot of people who don’t do much reading at all.
I love oral language. I speak in public for a living. I have spent decades crafting the ability to speak clearly and to discern the differences between effective speech and effective writing. I have been known to chide my colleagues for trying to confuse the two modes of communication. I’m no fan of listening to someone who poorly reads a written document.
But make no mistake about it, I believe that written language also has its place. There are times when writing is the best way to communicate. There are times when writing has qualities that speech cannot imitate, not the least of which is that people can and may read something you have written long after you have died. Writing has a permanence that is a value. When you commit words to paper you really are making a commitment.
I am convinced that writing is not dead. A few great words will survive this generation and the way they will be accessed by future generations is by reading. And the words of our scriptures that have informed generations of faithful people will continue to inspire and inform long after the span of our lives is finished. There are yet many more generations who will appreciate the great words that have been written.
So I keep writing.
And I keep reading.
Sometimes it frustrates me a great deal to have to wade through so much bad writing. But when I discover that single sentence, perfectly crafted, filled with depth of meaning and weight of purpose, everything else fades away and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to read.