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Read other letters about this article
You said: “I grew up in the newspaper trade and know how to keep it simple. But these are SALON readers!”
You don't read much Salon do you?
You said: “Anyway, your belief in dumbing-down is part of the problem.”
I don’t want to dumb anything down. I’m criticizing what I consider to be overblown and pretentious prose. The fact that you think that you’re writing for some sort of elevated audience underscores my point.
You said: “You'll not find a single $5 word that I used, whose meaning could not be guessed from context (that's what good writers do!)…”
I disagree with you but let’s leave that up to the other readers to weight in on.
You said: “Words are poetry and your reflex to quash the scope of vivid English simply shows how low an opinion you have of those you edit-for.”
I actually have a pretty high opinion of my readers and that why I take pains to make sure they get what I mean. Besides that I don’t think I have a “reflex to quash the scope of vivid English.” I just have a very different idea of what makes English vivid.
I appreciate your response but stand by what I said.
