Re: OT-ish: txt - Could it replace Standard Written English?

H. S. Teoh scripsit:

> IMAO, creativity does not come from sloppiness. True creativity is not
> hindered by discipline; rather, discipline enables it to develop and
> flourish.
True enough if you focus on the product of creativity.  Focusing on the
process, however, makes it sensible to try to get structure right before
getting details right.  Getting hung up on details is a good way to never
be able to start writing anything at all.

When I am tutoring writers, I say "Get it on paper, never mind if it's right!"
This does not mean that I think it's reasonable to submit a paper full of
spelling or other mechanics errors.  But one can fix those last, or even
hire someone else to fix them.  They aren't about *thinking* clearly.

> Exactly. I find these "correcting X hinders Y" arguments extremely
> ludicrous.
They aren't ludicrous.  Students who get back a four page paper with 100
red marks on it are likely to give up and throw the thing in the trash rather
than try again.  "Correcting" -- in the sense "providing corrections or
indications thereof" -- may indeed inhibit writing.

--
John Cowan      jcowan@reutershealth.com        http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
        Is it not written, "That which is written, is written"?

Replies