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From: mbb@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (martin.b.brilliant)
Newsgroups: sci.lang,comp.cog-eng,sci.psychology
Subject: Re: Effects of poor writing? (Long)
Message-ID: <376@cbnewsh.ATT.COM>
Date: 2 May 89 20:56:28 GMT
References: <2000@trantor.harris-atd.com>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 33

From article <2000@trantor.harris-atd.com>, by chuck@melmac.harris-atd.com (Chuck Musciano):
> In article <357@itcatl.UUCP> jonathan@itcatl.UUCP (Jonathan Peterson) writes:
>>	I think traditional "literacy" is falling more and more by the wayside 
>>as it becomes less important to human communication.....
> 
>      This is certainly a horrifying view of the future!  ....
> ....  Frankly, there is no more effective way, I think, to communicate
> ideas than to write them down and have others read them....

Written communication can be effective, but it depends on "good
writing."  Not spelling or punctuation per se, but the use of grammar,
diction, rhetoric, etc., to convey the intended meaning.

The most serious "Effects of poor writing" are being misunderstood, and
not being understood at all.

To my mind, the classical example (and I don't remember where I read it)
was the story of a surgeon who was looking for a surgical technique he
needed to save a patient's life.  He found exactly what he needed in a
medical journal, but the article that described the technique was not
quite clear enough to work from.  The obvious thing to do was contact
the author and ask what he meant.  But the author was dead.

Now maybe this is a fictional tale, but it is illustrative.  The
purpose of writing is to convey meaning to someone you cannot talk to. 
Poor writing fails to convey meaning.

M. B. Brilliant					Marty
AT&T-BL HO 3D-520	(201) 949-1858
Holmdel, NJ 07733	att!hounx!marty1 or marty1@hounx.ATT.COM

Disclaimer: Opinions stated herein are mine unless and until my employer
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