Re: [ADS-L] ADS-L on Language Log

[Charles Doyle]

Yes, alas. And gone are the days when Engish graduate students assigned their freshman composition classes theme topics like "Decribe (in detail) the process of tying a shoe."

I have heard this (in oral tradition) a couple of times: Supposedly a new 10-speed bicycle was purchased disassembled; the printed instructions commence, "Assmbling bicycle require great peace of mind."

--Charlie
_____________________________________________________________

---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:02:05 EDT
>From: RonButters at AOL.COM
>Subject: Re: Â  Â  Â  Re: [ADS-L] ADS-L on Language Log
>
>Perhaps this is because companies hire English majors to do their writing, naively thinking that English majors have been taught how to write clear and lucid prose. Unfortunately, English majors have been taught to write like professors of literature.
>
>In a message dated 8/11/08 10:49:11 AM, cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET writes:
>
>
>> Many instructions written by native speakers of American
>> English manage equally obtuse constructions. Increasingly,
>> I'm finding them on web pages, where the designers and their
>> clue-writing colleagues _had_ no clue where navigations are
>> concerned.
>>
>
>
>
>
>**************
>Looking for a car that's sporty, fun and fits in your budget?
>Read reviews on AOL Autos.
>
>(http://autos.aol.com/cars-BMW-128-2008/expert-review?ncid=aolaut00050000000017 )
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org