Thread: An Observation: The New Breed of Authors Are Using Obscure Words - Page After Page

Spell check does not lead me in the right direction many times.

I have to look up the work to make sure I an correct and the spell check isn't!

I looked up my error and work instead of word.........

At first I missed my error and I am sure many people in their reading of my post wouldn't.

Originally Posted by tintin

Since we are on the topic of words, what about spelling?(my weak point, or is that week?) anyway, I understand that at one time the exact spelling wasn't important as long as one could tell what the word was. The english language is full of rules and words that make no sense or don't follow the same rules. Since we are dumbing people down let's go back to the old ways. I demand change!

I tried to explain that to one of my English teachers, my mother. Yeah...I grew up with a teacher. So is why I sucked at school. Being it never let out for me, I blocked most of it out of my life.

Originally Posted by outback

I tried to explain that to one of my English teachers, my mother. Yeah...I grew up with a teacher. So is why I sucked at school. Being it never let out for me, I blocked most of it out of my life.

Mike-You could empathize with my youngest son, who hated school all the more because both his parents taught in the same building (though he admits that he never would have graduated had we not brought him to our high school for just that reason). And that meme about the "field where I grow my f*&ks" is pretty popular right now; I've sent variations of it to friends I knew would get it.

For you guys who are interested in the evolution of the English language, there was a fascinating 9-part documentary and book back in the 90's called The Story of English. I don't know if it's still available-last time I saw one was on VHS. This aspect of linguistics has always fascinated me, especially after I discovered that some of the speech patterns and "country" idiosyncracies of my grandmother and our Scots-Irish ancestors who settled in my native North Carolina mountains survived almost intact in the most remote hills and dells of Northern England and other far-flung parts of the Empire. And some of what is called "country" by outsiders is just remnants of Old English that have held on in relative isolation in the coves and hollers of Appallachia, at least until radio, movies and television started slowly eroding them. Similarly, the old Gullah language still hangs on in a few very old speakers out on the South Carolina sea islands. Having traveled the backroads of several British Commonwealth countries and many places in our own country, to hear all the different accents, unique words and idioms fascinates me endlessly. Language is culture (as is food, but that's a whole 'nother rabbit hole).

And yeah, English is the hardest 2nd language to learn because it breaks so many of its own rules

It's interesting that in my youth I was a magnificent speller. I noticed a sharp decline in my spelling ability throughout my 40s. Today, I can spell most words without thinking about them, but certain words I really have to be careful when I type them.

Throughout school, grammer never was a hard challenge for me, and I seemed to excell in English classes, except for a small stint in undergrad school. At that time I was really getting enamored with Hemingway. His style of writing can sometimes include run-on sentences. That worked for him and I enjoy his style of writing, for the most part.

Unfortunately for me, I tried to adopt this Hemingwayesque style to my essay writing with a professor that was not a fan run-on sentences. That dropped my grade a degree or two. In hindsight, I'm glad I had a professor that straightened me out on this.

Otherwise I'd be writing sentences that just went on and on without any regard for the reader having to separate thoughts as he or she can't get inside my head to find out my thinking process while I am putting thoughts down on electronic paper via my computer keyboard without caring for thought or phrase separation that would make the reading of my prose more succint and elegant even though I think that the style of writing may be better in copying a master's style that used it frequently and seldom had others critical of his style but then again Hemingway was a one-off kind of author that had his start working for the Toronto Star as he lived in France as a correspondent during the time where living in Paris was inexpensive for expats.

How's that for a run-on sentence?

I suck at vowels. Is it mentOr, mentEr, or mentAr. Donor rhymes with loaner, but spelled different. Bugger off English. Sensible and noticeable...same frigging rhyme but nope, different spelling. Of course, it may just be the drawl. Some of them erudite professors may say them differently.

Pretty good run-on sentence there, Zip. Writers develop by reading other writers and slowly practicing and incorporating elements of their style. That is the foundation of how I teach writing in my combined AP English Lang. and Lit. course. Both prose analysis (literature/fiction) and rhetorical analysis AP Language (non-fiction) are the backbone of the course. We are constantly putting written passages under the document camera and up on the screen as students discuss what a writer is doing and why as they highlight and make annotations, then figure out arguments/theses they can support in essays. And once you can get students (or any reader who is interested) to figure out WHY writers use certain techniques and moves, light switches start to turn on.

As we all know, especially in the post-modern era after WWII and beyond, the best writers break all "the rules." I'm constantly telling students the old adage "You have to know the rules before you can break them." Most students have all they can handle just writing good sentences without errors. Typically only my most advanced writers can break out of the box and start using techniques consciously for certain effects. Those will be the ones who score 5's on their AP exams.

Teaching writing is hard. A few students seem to have a knack for it. For all the rest, it's a lot of work, mainly because they haven't read enough good writing to even know what it is, much less incorporate it into their own writing. Then there's that all-important elusive, unique "voice" every great writer has, but which has been skilled and drilled out of most students by the time they get to me with years of formulaic, paint-by-numbers essays (see learning the rules above).

I could go on all day on this topic. I'm generally lost when some of you guys start talking about tearing down engines and such, but this is right in my wheel-house.

And once you can get students (or any reader who is interested) to figure out WHY writers use certain techniques and moves, light switches start to turn on.

I don't know how far I will get but can you point me in this direction?

Originally Posted by planeden

I suck at vowels. Is it mentOr, mentEr, or mentAr. Donor rhymes with loaner, but spelled different. Bugger off English. Sensible and noticeable...same frigging rhyme but nope, different spelling. Of course, it may just be the drawl. Some of them erudite professors may say them differently.

There is an example of how how a words meaning changes over time.
Frigging is an old term which means a female masturbating..

Originally Posted by Grazor

There is an example of how how a words meaning changes over time.
Frigging is an old term which means a female masturbating..

I didn't know this.

Look at the strop definition "informal"

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/.../english/strop