I was driving back from dropping Julia at work this morning when I found myself composing poetry in my head. This is the first time for months that this has happened. Probably six months. In that time I have been ill, depressed, short of inspiration etc. That’s proof – at school they always used to say etcetera meant you had run out of ideas.
My WP spellchecker does not like etcetera, so I checked et cetera. It doesn’t like that either, although both forms are considered correct by other authorities. It’s OK with etc though, with or without the full stop. This confirms my thoughts about spellcheckers and the people who develop them. This isn’t another discussion of American spelling, more a comment on the assumptions made by the purveyors of computer software. Why is it assumed that I would want to take the language of Shakespeare and the King James Bible and consign it to the waste paper bin of history, in favour of a language which has no concept of the existence of a full length word for etc and thinks that favour is a mis-spelling?
My Orange Parker Pen
Did you find that last sentence understandable. I recall that sentences of up to 20 words are considered best. At 30 or 35 you get to a length where people have difficulty grasping it. That one has just run on to 55 words. I counted them after i found I couldn’t see an easy way of trimming it.
You are a poor sample to ask, as you are all clearly of above average intelligence (and above average in many other areas too), but I was curious to see if I got away with it and produced a readable 55 word sentence. That one is only 43 words long. Until I started looking I always thought I wrote short sentences. I’m clearly going to have to start looking at my readability indexes again.
And so, in a short opening paragraph, I tell you the poetry has returned, and in the rest of it, I ramble on. Sorry about that. However, I can’t stay chatting, I have poetry to write, and probably a second blog post to compose.
Orange Parker Pen
I am glad to hear the poetical thoughts are returning, Simon. That is good news.
Thanks Lavinia – sorry, only just saw this comment.
No worries, Simon. It is hard to get to everything.
🙂 I sometimes seems that way.
I think short sentences are for newspapers, innit
So it seems. Something else for me to work on. 🙂
Yep. Goodpost. Valid p.o.v. Keepat it.
🙂 Thank you.
We greet the return of the poetic muse with delight. As to long sentences, I find that I am very likely to have written far too many clauses and subclauses into my posts, so I have to go back and put a few full stops in. I like short sentences but I wrote long ones which match my wandering thoughts.
For all their manifold fasults, I would find it very hard to do without a spell checker as my typing is so erreatic.
When I look back at old posts I am constantly embarrassed by the poor quality of my proof reading, even with a spellchecker. Ditto for the old poems I am currently collecting – one or two typos seem to have slipped through there too.
It is all too easy. We all need a really competent sub-editor.
Even a semi-competent one would improve my posts. 😉
Yay!!! And I have always admired a long sentence. Mine tend to be short.
I’ve always tried for short. I was surprised how long some of them are when I start looking. You know what mark Twain said – something along the lines of apologising for his long letter as he didn’t have time to write a short one.
Firstly, I am glad that your poetry has returned, and secondly, I think that Poe has something to say about sentence length.
I will look him up and see what he says. 🙂