11.0087 bad writing

Humanist Discussion Group (humanist@kcl.ac.uk)
Thu, 5 Jun 1997 00:31:58 +0100 (BST)

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 11, No. 87.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>

Date: Tue, 03 Jun 1997 19:47:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jeff Finlay <FINLAYJI@GUVAX.ACC.GEORGETOWN.EDU>
Subject: bad writing wins

> We are pleased to announce winners of the third Bad Writing
> Contest, sponsored by the scholarly journal Philosophy and Literature
> (published by the Johns Hopkins University Press) and its internet
> discussion group, PHIL-LIT.

It doesn't seem very philosophical to single out poststructuralist
prose as the only kind of bad writing in academia. One would think
a philosophy scholar would give second thought to what constitutes
"badness." I don't see any writing in here by Lynne Cheney or ED
Hirsch, but it seems they are equally "bad" to my way of thinking
as any of the postmodern mouthfuls quoted in your message.

Best Wishes,

Jeff Finlay