The Queen

There was a recurrent character on “In Living Color” who loved to use long words but invariably used them incorrectly. “If I could hyperventilate my point,” he’d say, “I’d obfuscate the plurality of the issues being intoxicated.” It was hilarious because even people who didn’t know what the words meant knew the language was being massacred.

I’m not gonna say you’re that bad because you’re not. You’re not even close. But I had to give up trying to read your review because I got the feeling that you weren’t as interested in finding the right word to express your thoughts as you were in finding the longest one.

And some of the obvious grammatical errors ("nor have I ever much of a predisposition” - with a missing “had” - or “which contributed greatly into my interest” instead of contributing greatly “to” your interest) made your choice of phrasing that much more difficult to follow.

Writing anything well, whether it’s an e-mail, a DVD review, or the great American novel, requires communicating effectively with your audience, not trying to impress them (or worse, overwhelm them with your vocabulary).

I would like to read your opinion. But I’ll have to wait until you’re confident enough in yourself to trust your voice. Please stop hiding behind important-sounding words and spend more time finding the right words instead.

Seriously, do you really think it serves your audience well to use a phrase like “plethorically nominated”? The fact that you misspelled plethorically only makes it worse. But even if the reader ignores the choice of such a pompous word, you don’t even mention what the movie is nominated for, so the phrase is meaningless. Even a cliched phrase like “highly critically acclaimed” would have conveyed your point much better than the awkward phrasing you chose, and the cliche would have been much more accurate.

Do you know what impresses people? A well-stated opinion supported by well-stated arguments.

I’m not the greatest writer in the world. I’m not even average. But I know what interests me as a reader and what doesn’t, so I think that qualifies me to critique other people’s writing skills.

And trying to hide your voice behind big words and flowery phrases definitely doesn’t interest me. Trust yourself more.

Your goal should be to share your opinions with other people, not beat them over the head with your expansive vocabulary.

They deserve more than that. And so do you.

Comment by Tommy Marx from Portland OR — April 30, 2007 @ 10:50 pm