Why is it...?

Question

that the people who wish to insult something or someone to appear more intelligent always seem to do so with inappropriate wording (ex. calling a book "derivative nonsense," derivative of what?) or with horrible grammar or spelling? It seems that if you want to make yourself appear more intelligent than the asker, you would at least research your definitions and be sure you are spelling your words correctly before you do so. I just wonder if anyone else has noticed this oddity.

Dr. Why I absolutely appreciate what you were saying and I realize you aren't being argumentative! I should have been clearer myself. Taken in context, the example I gave made very little sense. And I most certainly have been insulted by those with the wit and cunning to actually cut to the bone, and criticized by those who, though not exactly eloquent, still have something worthwhile to say. It is my pleasure to read something well put together, even when it extends to insulting me or something I care about simply because of the fact that if the time was taken to write it with care, then I know it is a valid argument or at least a statement from the heart.

Answer 1

When you make up and/or incorrectly use academic-sounding words, you can be sure that pretty much nobody knows what they mean or how they should be used anyway and isn't going to take the time to look them up. So it works. It intimidates the readers who don't know any better and amuses those who do.

Richard Lanham, a UCLA professor emeritus who has written many books on style and writing revision, calls this sort of thing a conflict between "noun-based" and "verb-based" styles. The noun-based, or academic, style is full of Latinate words (most words ending in "-tion" are Latinate), full of qualifying prepositional phrases such as "of the" ("The emergence of modern drama from religious ritual by way of Miracle plays and Moralities is not simply a fact of inconsequential chronology."), and lacking in action verbs. In his book _Analyzing Prose_, Lanham says of the noun style, "Most working prose nowadays uses precisely this monotonous noun-style pattern. Since it so strongly opposes action and movement, bureaucrats love it."

Here's a kind of funny comparison he offers of the two styles:

Noun style:
"Tacitly or explicitly we constantly draw on symbolic references and typifications shared by playwright, actors and audience. This is the basis of the adoption of dramaturgic terminology by social scientsts and of its elaboration in the 'mere analogy of the analysis of social behaviour as more or less skilled performance,' by Erving Goffman, and as 'symbolic interaction' by Blumer, Becker and others."

Same sentence translated to verb style:
"And since, knowingly or not, we use dramatic symbols, social scientists can assess our behavior as drama (Goffman) or as symbolic interaction (Blumer, Becker and others)."

Answer 2

Not to be argumentative, but calling something 'derivative' is usually just a fancy way of saying that it's not orginal. Most people don't normally specify exactly what the original version of something is, even when they aren't using fancy verbiage.

As for bad grammar, I'm usually relieved when I see someone insult me in such a way. It suggests that whoever wrote it was either too profoundly affected to take care in their writing or that they simply didn't care much in the first place. And the criticisms of the emotionally overwrought and completely indifferent carry very little weight with me.

The ones that really scare me are those who cuttingly and insightfully slash my work to ribbons with just their words. They are out there. If you haven't been well-insulted yet by such as these, consider yourself fortunate.

And to be perfectly fair, I don't think a person has to have good grammar to be a good critic. It helps, naturally. But if Einstein were to rise from the dead and criticize my physics, I think I'd pay attention to what he said no matter how poor his word choice was. I don't think one has to turn to the spirit world for good examples of expertise, either (Einstein does make a particularly iconic example, though!).

Keep in mind as well that some people break the rules intentionally, either to be conversational or for some other stylistic preference. I assume from your context that you're not referring to such as these, but I think fairness also requires that they be given at least a passing mention.

Answer 3

Welcome to Yahoo! Answers. You've certainly started with a bang! And no spelling or grammatical errors either! You're right in what you say. Wait till you've been on here for a few weeks. You may be tearing your hair out.

Answer 4

I think you answered it yourself: they really aren't any smarter than the other person.

Answer 5

yes, all too often.