[MD] Taking Words Seriously

[david buchanan]

dmb said to Matt, Dan and all would-be writers:
 ...See, this isn't just a lesson for creative writers. ...



Matt replied:
I pull out the above in your last post, Dave, to help pin down why I think you're intending to say something to me.  The obliqueness of your recent posts, however, would seem to obscure that intention by virtue of the obscurity of their intended point, the "lesson" you've been intending to teach.  It seems like an algebra lesson for a calculus student, and the calculus student is as yet unclear what they missed in the algebra.  Indeed, your general penchant for "see" clauses creates an arresting, demonstrative-like quality to your writing that presses and hounds a reader like a finger in the chest.  But I continue to confess my dismay that I'm not sure what new thing I am supposed to be seeing.  I confess that I may be that unideal reader, whose intelligence is not flattered by, as you put it, being "smart enough to understand everything" you say. Be that as it may, I stand upright and unfazed in the face of the finger, and remain simply curious as to its purport.  It couldn't possibly be in contradistinction to something I said, could it?



dmb says:

I really don't understand why you feel pressed or hounded. You haven't given me much to go on. You extracted one short sentence from a pretty long post and on that slim basis tell me that you are offended. How do you figure my intention to say something to you is obscure? You started this thread and my posts are addressed to you by name. Yes, of course my intention is to say something to you about the issue you raised. There is nothing obscure about that. In fact, writing a monologue or essay, rather than having a dialogue, is one of your favorite sports. My last couple of posts have come to you in what I thought was your favorite shape. 

I think you know perfectly well that they were aimed at you and your points on your topic in your style. If that offends you, then what doesn't offend you? Jeez.