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Comments
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P.S. This rant does NOT imply that "uncanny" is a four-syllable word. _Some_ sanity remains.
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A Proper Rant!
At long last!
Shame on the rubes, and anonymous beatings should be administered to Askers Of Stupid Questions like "Can I ask you a Question?"! -
There's a difference between being precise and being wordy/stiff. It's not a bi-implication.
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I dunno about you, but I never had to be pretentious to be precise. Adverbs help.
Misplaced words can make all the difference.
Regarding the questions "suited for search engines"... such as? -
C0D4681953yWritten language is hard, so hard in fact writing more then 3 characters is an achievement on its own these days.
what would you expect from generations that not only get anxiety from looking out their windows, but couldn't spell simple words if their life's depended on it.
Civilisation has peaked once again, and now we await the asteroid to reset this planet for the greater good. -
You use a lot of passive. I don't think it's a problem but I definitely agree that it's weird. Is it somehow more expressive than the same thing in an active voice.
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Also uncanny is definitely a common word, but when writing technical documents it's advisable to restrict yourself to simple language and jargon because non-native speakers will want to, and should be able to read it. Of course there are online dictionaries, but it's still a hindrance with minimal benefit.
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@lbfalvy: The passive voice is occasionally useful; the passive voice draws attention to objects and whatnot, as opposed to subjects.
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@lbfalvy: Terribly uncommon words are generally used only for comedic effect.
Exceptions include uncommon words which suit problems extremely well. -
@vintprox: Adverbs are frequently used. But the adverb is not a "one-size-fits-all" solution; there exist various types of ambiguity.
[An example of a stupid question is "what is [THING]".] -
@varikvalefor In this second-to-last comment of yours I would say that the passive voice is actually incorrect (and it definitely took me a second to understand it) because you're talking about how _you_ use uncommon words and passive. Presenting your own practices in passive is very confusing.
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@lbfalvy: A fair point is made; these comments are not the content of a style guide. A relatively decent re-write is as follows:
VARIK generally uses terribly uncommon words only for comedic effect.
Exceptions include uncommon words which suit problems extremely well.
Egad! An actual rant is revealed!
Lamers who insist that informal or oversimplified stuff be written are damn annoying.
God forbid the appropriate use of a four-syllable word.
In what world is "uncanny" a strange word?
Is "blessed are the authors of good documentation" such a difficult sentence? Call the linguist; this shit can only be interpreted by an expert!
"U WRITE LIEK A ROBOT!!!!!!!!!"
Piss off, trog. Some men like succinctness and just wish to communicate without a great deal of ambiguity. A bit of clunkiness is preferable to a bit of ambiguity.
Pants are apparently shat when proper sentences are encountered.
If writing coherently and correctly implies being pretentious, then the world is beyond repair.
Also annoying are lamers who insist on wasting other men's time by asking questions which are perfectly suited for search engines.
Reaching through the monitor and beating the crap out of people sometimes seems a bit tempting. But doing such a thing is infeasible... and would probably result in felony charges if such a thing were feasible.
rant