How social media improved writing
Mar 26, 2013 2:19:56 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2013 2:19:56 GMT -5
Good morning to you all! Writing in 'FT Magazine', Simon Kuper asks how social media improved writing: texts, blogs, emails and Facebook posts are affecting other kinds of writing – mostly for the good.
Simon concludes that of course, bad writing still abounds. The Onion magazine loves parodying newspaper prose, as in this fake news story naming North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-eun as the sexiest man alive: “With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman’s dream come true.” And old-fashioned overwriting survives too, as in this recent newspaper column about insomnia: “Those liminal hours between dark and dawn continue to haunt my praxis even now that my nest is empty.”
I propose some toast: to Sydney Grew, The Third and all of you! Three cheers from kleines c and the gang (breakfast coffee)!
Simon concludes that of course, bad writing still abounds. The Onion magazine loves parodying newspaper prose, as in this fake news story naming North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-eun as the sexiest man alive: “With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman’s dream come true.” And old-fashioned overwriting survives too, as in this recent newspaper column about insomnia: “Those liminal hours between dark and dawn continue to haunt my praxis even now that my nest is empty.”
" ... But mostly, social media have done wonders for writing. George Orwell in 1944 lamented the divide between wordy, stilted written English, and much livelier speech. “Spoken English is full of slang,” he wrote, “it is abbreviated wherever possible, and people of all social classes treat its grammar and syntax in a slovenly way.” His ideal was writing that sounded like speech. We’re getting there at last."
I propose some toast: to Sydney Grew, The Third and all of you! Three cheers from kleines c and the gang (breakfast coffee)!
