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Sometimes, writers would blend completely different styles into one essay so you don't know if you're reading The Times, Goldilocks or Harlequin Romance. You can think of it as a poorly arranged marriage between moods and styles, like fanfiction writers forcibly bringing Twilight and The Lord of the Rings together. It just doesn't work.
You just know when words have been pretzle-rized (put together, twisted in various combinations so you don't know where the thoughts end and begin) to make them sound as if they meant something when in reality, they mean absolutely nothing. The marketing content world calls these vague ideas gobbledygook - overused, meaningless words which hide honest communication.. Read this sample business writing:
"We’re dedicated to providing results oriented, cost efficient solutions for customer outreach by employing existing and proprietary technologies that maximize exposure and obtain a leadership position in your market through the use of xxxx, our interactive digital outreach system."
Can you even guess what service the company is providing? I've seen this happen in my own writing, especially when I'm forced to ramble on about things I don't even care about, or when I'm just plain uninspired. This was also one of my nightmares as a teacher, forced as I was to sometimes read and comment on 125 essays in a few days, half of them padded with vague generalizations and obvious exaggerations that lose me in a Twilight Zone of empty words -- amazing, marvelous, excellent, and the favorite word to describe a book or film: okay. What does okay even mean in the first place?
Sincerity in writing and speech takes conciseness and precision, a clarity of ideas. Sincerity in writing also takes a lot of you factor. What do you really think? What do you care about? What's your opinion? Write it down. Pretentiousness is glaringly obvious to readers and is a big turn-off.
You just know when words have been pretzle-rized (put together, twisted in various combinations so you don't know where the thoughts end and begin) to make them sound as if they meant something when in reality, they mean absolutely nothing. The marketing content world calls these vague ideas gobbledygook - overused, meaningless words which hide honest communication.. Read this sample business writing:
"We’re dedicated to providing results oriented, cost efficient solutions for customer outreach by employing existing and proprietary technologies that maximize exposure and obtain a leadership position in your market through the use of xxxx, our interactive digital outreach system."
Can you even guess what service the company is providing? I've seen this happen in my own writing, especially when I'm forced to ramble on about things I don't even care about, or when I'm just plain uninspired. This was also one of my nightmares as a teacher, forced as I was to sometimes read and comment on 125 essays in a few days, half of them padded with vague generalizations and obvious exaggerations that lose me in a Twilight Zone of empty words -- amazing, marvelous, excellent, and the favorite word to describe a book or film: okay. What does okay even mean in the first place?
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| Gobbledygook Grader |
Sincerity in writing and speech takes conciseness and precision, a clarity of ideas. Sincerity in writing also takes a lot of you factor. What do you really think? What do you care about? What's your opinion? Write it down. Pretentiousness is glaringly obvious to readers and is a big turn-off.
hello abby! =D
ReplyDeleteRayn Tayone