Comments on: UNFIT for the Literary Era

By: B. Rieux

B. Rieux — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:48:51 +0000

Well, now I’m the pot to Theophrastus’s kettle, I suppose: “pointing.”

By: B. Rieux

B. Rieux — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:47:48 +0000

I don’t make a habit of point out other commenters’ writing mistakes, but it’s deliciously ironic that Theophrastus’s comment contains two mispelt or misused works and one sentence ending with the wrong punctuation mark, beyond the content errors that C.B. points out. Reading the comment is annoying, but he or she gets the message across clearly enough despite the problems with orthography. I’d rather read that than read immaculate prose with nothing to say, but of course it’s better if one can do both.

By: UNFIT for the Comments Page | UNFIT

UNFIT for the Comments Page | UNFIT — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:03:20 +0000

[...] Yamaneko: Twenty-three years ago, our history professor complained that too many students got “too,… [...]

By: Yamaneko

Yamaneko — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 01:18:48 +0000

Twenty-three years ago, our history professor complained that too many students got “too, to and two” wrong; my generation was said to be “A Nation At Risk” by slots addict and professional moralizer William Bennett. In turn, we looked down the noses of those who came after us.

By: C.B.

C.B. — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:04:08 +0000

Theophrastus, if you’re going to refute someone’s argument, then be sure to check your facts. Just about everything we have from Aristotle is in the form of lecture notes, many of which may have been written by a student. These lecture notes are -not- grammatically correct, nor are they at all times clear. In fact, they are often contradictory, awkward, and repetitive. The only indication of Aristotle’s actual writing style that we have is the praise that he received from the writing of people from that time who commented upon it. If you’re going to use an example, try to make it one that you can actually back up.

As for the point, you’re forcing an implication into Kelly’s argument that is simply unclear. The “it” in her final sentence has no clear antecedent, which apparently gives you the right to toss out whatever straw man you’d like in order to rebut. This simply means that you’ve bitten your own critique of her argument. At best, you can say that her argument is unclear and expresses the importance of audience adaptation. Anything else is merely, as you “quoted” from Aristotle (and more accurately from a translation of lecture notes most likely written by Aristotle), “sophistical refutation.”

By: Reviving Writing « Composition as Critical Inquiry

Reviving Writing « Composition as Critical Inquiry — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:28:59 +0000

[...] Unfit Times article [...]

By: Theophrastus

Theophrastus — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 21:44:07 +0000

Kelly, even Aristotle, when he was developing complex ideas and “relating” to his audience in writing, did so in clear, grammatically correct, and easily understandable prose. Or, to quote Aristotle, “let us know discuss sophistical refutations, i.e. what appear to be refutations but are fallacious instead.” Your fallacy posing as a refutation is the implication that relating to an audience is somehow more important than crafting a clear, grammatical, and stylish text. LOL.

If your going to invoke some past master as a means of buttressing the authority of your weak observation, why don’t you work a little harder to develop an argument that is worthy of buttressing. Or you could respect your audience a little more and drop the unnecessary classical references.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 05:02:31 +0000

Even Aristotle talked about the importance of relating to one’s audience as integral to effective speech. If texting, and tweeting, and blogging is teaching this to the youth of today’s world–is it really something to complain about?

By: Eliot Tretter

Eliot Tretter — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:01:11 +0000

This is heartening and sadden at the same time. I read the papers of college students all the time, and I will attest the the writing awful. If it is better than it has been then I happy to have never known those dark ages before the likes of LOL and OMG.

By: Grandma Roth

Grandma Roth — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:39:45 +0000

Roth is mainly known for an semi-autobiography about how much he used to masturbate. If there’s anybody who should be embracing quasi-confessional narcissism from the ivory tower, it might be him.