I’m sorry

I feel that I need to apologize to those who read my writings. Apparently I am using words that may confuse you or cause you to feel less than adequate to read my blog. It is either that or the proof reading program has decided people are too stupid to be able to read above a second grade level.

I had no idea that my love for words could be doing such damage to people. I can only imagine readers now walking around all day long depressed that my meanderings are stopping them from gaining a true understanding of where my thoughts go. I would feel even worse if I remove all of the complex words and dumb down my musings, and then readers grow in ire as they ponder why I need to use only monosyllabic words.

While I do write all of the above in jest, it makes me wonder about the people who code these programs. Do they feel that technology has gotten to the point that it can decipher how difficult the writing should be? Perhaps coders think that since people can only write in text-ease that actual words are no longer required.

I can remember when I was preparing my book for publication. All of the material I read told me to make sure I did not use a lot of extraneous words. I should use simple language. Make it easy for the reader. I couldn’t.

I grew up reading. I read everything. I idolized Sinclair, Steinbeck, Dickens, and the rest. They knew how to use words and weren’t afraid to challenge their readers. Many a time, I had to use a dictionary or thesaurus to gain the true meaning of the sentence. I learned how to read using context clues. I did not shy away from their writings because they took me to places I could never physically go. I travelled the world of my imagination. My vocabulary grew because those authors did not have a computerized proof reading program cautioning them about being too complex.

Sinclair, in The Jungle, wrote:

Here was a population, low-class and mostly foreign, hanging always on the verge of starvation, and dependent for its opportunities of life upon the whim of men every bit as brutal and unscrupulous as the old-time slave drivers; under such circumstances immorality was exactly as inevitable, and as prevalent, as it was under the system of chattel slavery. Things that were quite unspeakable went on there in the packing houses all the time, and were taken for granted by everybody; only they did not show, as in the old slavery times, because there was no difference in color between master and slave.

The proof reader would probably change it to:

There were a bunch of hungry people that worked for mean people. Bad things happened where they worked.

So while I will live the proof-reader on to check for spelling, I will smile every time it states a word or expression may be too complex. I will smile because I know that the reader will understand it. I will smile because I am not insulting readers by dumbing down my writing. I will smile because I am trying to keep my love for language alive. I am sorry that my proof-reader doesn’t believe in you as a reader, but know that I do.