Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Say it clearly or not at all

Most writers, and nearly all editors, secretly know that they care too much. Once upon a time, poor language was restricted to personal correspondence, because nobody got published unless they had a good grasp of English already, and even the worst of them (F Scott Fitzgerald springs to mind) usually had good editors who would make sure their writing was in decent shape before any reader saw it.

That all changed with the internet. Suddenly we are overwhelmed by the thoughts of the illiterati as they spew across the web like stinking turds from a broken sewer, through blogs, Facebook, Twitter and the comment sections of news websites. No sooner has an idea dawned with feeble glow of a five-Watt bulb than it's there on the internet for the world to see, forever. Speak You're Branes: there's no one to stop you.