This thread is well past its sell-by date, and I had no intention of prolonging it, but as Mike Smith has responded to Stephen's comment about the sense of the word "verbiage" in the context of TIPS posts, I note he writes: >I don't see the word verbiage to be an insult. It means an >over-abundance of words.
In the same context on 20 November Mike wrote: >The actual point was: Complete english sentences >and paragraphs are unnecessary and so are quotes. That's interesting, considering that Mike's post on 18 April this year was around 360 words longer than my post that set this series of exchanges in motion (the one Chris referred to as an "essay"), i.e., some 30 percent longer than mine – and it comprised almost entirely of an unreferenced quotation from elsewhere. Disclaimer: I was not looking for this (I presumed that Mike practised what he preached), just trying to satisfy my curiosity about which educational establishment Mike works at. (And, please, let's not get into a discussion on that. :-) ) Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London [email protected] http://www.esterson.org ------------------------------------------------ From: Michael Smith <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Canada's early intolerance Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:48:37 -0600 S. Black responds to this thread with: "...uncharacteristically disagreeable..." I disagree. I don't find the discussion disagreeable, just a discussion. "it's time I expressed an opinion" OK. This must be significant I guess, but I'm not sure why. "'Verbiage' refers to more than just the length of a contribution. It's also an insult, implying that the words are superflous or meaningless" I disagree. I don't see the word verbiage to be an insult. It means an over-abundance of words. Which was the point of the argument: Whether or not essay-type posts have too many words (which was obviously from the very beginning, a personal preference). So. I view the whole point as: Is it a necessity that a post on a list-serv be in the form of an essay in order to convey a well thought out and documented response about a topic? My answer is no. Note that this view has nothing to do with what is preferable or desirable (or required in other contexts). Some Tipsters may enjoy reading essay responses, some may not. --Mike --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=6691 or send a blank email to leave-6691-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
