Can't! Won't! Shan't! Don't!Pass the word along the lineSomebody's pack has 
slid from his back
Ónly wish that it was mine!
Somebody's load has tipped off in the road-
Cheer for a halt and a row!
Urr! Yarrh! Grr! Arrh!
Somebody's catching it now!

Read me at:

--- On Wed, 29/9/10, Udhay Shankar N <[email protected]> wrote:

From: Udhay Shankar N <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [silk] Techno-literacy and its implications
To: [email protected]
Date: Wednesday, 29 September, 2010, 7:01

[meta-comment: please avoid top-posting]

On 28-Sep-10 9:56 PM, Deepa Mohan wrote:

> I did enjoy this piece, as I've done others...but let me drift the
> thread straightaway, with something that disturbs me lately. To
> appreciate these articles, one has to be very conversant with a lot of
> extremely precise  tems and phrases (eg. "recursive", "embedded
> defaults" instead of "preconceptions", and so on.)

Why would this disturb you? Any field has its jargon, and precision is
required in order to communicate ideas without confusion.

> When someone uses English with this level of skill, and expresses
> original ideas, we applaud them as being very smart...what about others,
> who may have the same original ideas, and are not able to express
> themselves thus?

The way I like to put it: "interestingness" or "thought-provokingness"
of a person or thesis has 3 dimensions:

* intellectual depth
* erudition - in this context, an awareness of the related work in its
own and related fields
* the ability to be articulate - which implies both conveying the core
ideas; and doing so in a manner that sparks interest in the reader.

Missing out on any of the dimensions implies a corresponding loss of
interestingness.

> Hmm...I am not being very articulate myself...I guess I
> am getting bothered (another thread, present continuous tense!) by the
> elitism of English usage.....
> 
> Does this make sense to anyone else?

No.

That is, I understand that you have a bee in your bonnet. But I don't
understand why.

Udhay
-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))




      

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