3 ms·

Did this article trip anyone else’s “is this GPT?” senses? I thought the prose style was very strange - quite verbose with a lot of redundant descriptors.

shijie 3y ago
It tripped my “trying to hard to write eloquent, witty prose” senses. I proofread a lot of papers in college and wrote a lot of columns in the school newspaper. This is a common style. Thesaurus-driven word choice.
- Pannoniae 3y ago
  Basically the "if I use fancy words, I sound smart to those who don't actually comprehend the words' meanings"
  - maksimur 3y ago
    I don't know if it's the guy's case, however, there are people who actually delight themselves in writing complex sentences comparable to a mathematician's delight in doing mathematics or a painter's artistry on canvas. I'm noticing it's mainly an US-centric trend to have negative feelings towards good and complex writing.
    - gcr 3y ago
      i used to do exactly this as an undergrad! i thought it made my writing sound whimsical or whatever, as if emulating the style of Lemony Snickett or _why the lucky stiff i've since replaced this (bad imho) habit with other bad habits, fortunately
      - maksimur 3y ago
        It goes without saying you shouldn't imitate the style of other people but have your own. Also, there's actually a feeling of joy in writing good prose and seeing the result, which is something I never mastered in English, as evidenced for example by my repeated use of "but", but (yeah..) kind of did in my native language.
- greenie_beans 3y ago
  yeah, it tripped my "this is college writing" sense.
tiny_ta 3y ago
Reading this was nostalgic for me as this was how we'd write essays in my Indian high school. It's not so strange when we grow up developing our style to look like this :)
- dcminter 3y ago
  To me it sounds very self conscious, just like a high schooler or youthful university student who has not yet found an authentic voice but wants to sound literate. So probably more about the "high school" than the "Indian" part of your observation. I didn't finish the article.
hoherd 3y ago
> "Omit needless words." (Rule 17.) The Elements of Style

shijie 3y ago

It tripped my “trying to hard to write eloquent, witty prose” senses. I proofread a lot of papers in college and wrote a lot of columns in the school newspaper. This is a common style. Thesaurus-driven word choice.

Pannoniae 3y ago
Basically the "if I use fancy words, I sound smart to those who don't actually comprehend the words' meanings"
- maksimur 3y ago
  I don't know if it's the guy's case, however, there are people who actually delight themselves in writing complex sentences comparable to a mathematician's delight in doing mathematics or a painter's artistry on canvas. I'm noticing it's mainly an US-centric trend to have negative feelings towards good and complex writing.
  - gcr 3y ago
    i used to do exactly this as an undergrad! i thought it made my writing sound whimsical or whatever, as if emulating the style of Lemony Snickett or _why the lucky stiff i've since replaced this (bad imho) habit with other bad habits, fortunately
    - maksimur 3y ago
      It goes without saying you shouldn't imitate the style of other people but have your own. Also, there's actually a feeling of joy in writing good prose and seeing the result, which is something I never mastered in English, as evidenced for example by my repeated use of "but", but (yeah..) kind of did in my native language.
greenie_beans 3y ago
yeah, it tripped my "this is college writing" sense.

tiny_ta 3y ago

Reading this was nostalgic for me as this was how we'd write essays in my Indian high school. It's not so strange when we grow up developing our style to look like this :)

dcminter 3y ago
To me it sounds very self conscious, just like a high schooler or youthful university student who has not yet found an authentic voice but wants to sound literate. So probably more about the "high school" than the "Indian" part of your observation. I didn't finish the article.

hoherd 3y ago

> "Omit needless words." (Rule 17.) The Elements of Style