Bad writing
With all due respect to those who consider themselves good writers, I personally am absolutely astonished by all the bad writing I see. It shows up everywhere, 24/7, so at the end of the day it’s a nightmare. None of this garbage should of been written. It’s not rocket science to write good English, but at this moment in time it’s only fairly unique people who can express themselves clearly.
Okay, class: What do you make of what I just said? Take a moment. Study it. Ponder it. Digest it. Assess it.
I hope you hated it — not the substance, but the style or lack thereof.
Why? Because into that one short paragraph I crammed all ten of what researchers at Oxford have rated as the most irritating phrases in the English language. For the gory details, click here.
Now ask yourself how many of those oh-so-irritating phrases have crept into your own speaking and writing. And then do something about it. Please.
[Hat tip to University Diaries]
Comments
Irregardless, nowadays I think its a whole nother problem that us ain’t incentivized to speak good.
Posted by: me_fail_english_unpossible | November 8, 2008 01:47 PM
some odd choices (shouldn’t of, absolutely).
And can we give a special policsi/sociology award to “In an increasingly globalized world”?
(this has a solid 42.000 google hits -the more generic and shorter “fairly unique” and “shouldn’t of” have 160.000, and if we add “in this age of globalization” and “in this era of globalization” we’re at 150.000)
Posted by: Sebastian | November 8, 2008 04:08 PM
At the end of the day, it is what it is, you know?
Best regards
Monica
Posted by: Monica Wolf | November 8, 2008 04:49 PM
Wow, you just threw a whole lot of writers under the bus.
Posted by: Eric L. | November 8, 2008 05:08 PM
Nice post!
Posted by: anupriya | November 10, 2008 05:43 AM
One of the hallmarks of bad writing is the use of cliches, especially meaningless ones.
“At the end of the day”, it’s night.
Posted by: Jim Carroll | November 10, 2008 06:15 AM
This applies to speaking perhaps more than writing:
I hate “going forward” (when used to mean “in the future” or “from now on”). It should have been on the list.
Also, a lot of highly educated people, including btw the pres.-elect of the U.S., sometimes use “I” where they should use “me” (as in “he graciously invited my wife and I [sic] to dinner”).
Posted by: LFC | November 10, 2008 11:21 PM