Ken Macrorie's "from Telling Writing" is hilarious! Even if we’ve never graded student papers or read our peer’s writing in junior high, high school, or college, we’ve all probably been subject to that strange process wherein we fight to allow our ideas, our voice, us, out and onto paper. The words resist us. The false voice of Engfish attacks and sticks to us like silly string. We feel a need to impress to write up to the university. With the Wizard of Oz, himself, ready to read and evaluate our prolific language, invented for the purpose of speaking professor-speak—or at least imagined. And, how could we imagine that such stilted gibberish is academic language? I don’t know, but how strange a thing that uncovering our own voice could be so difficult a work? This of course, this work, is composition, a process of revealing self. According to Macrorie, the authentic writer has the following characteristics:
Couldn’t resist sharing a list. Lists can be fun and help us self-reflect on our process. This one can help us reflect on whether our true voice is permitted to live, to thrive, to come alive on paper, in journal, in classroom comments.
Once you read Macrorie and think about engfish, you begin to see it everywhere. As a teacher, it's helpful to be able to clearly articulate what is making any particular piece of writing less than optimal. I really like this list, too, thanks. I might share it on our class site, too, thanks.
ReplyDeleteEverywhere is right. Holey moley when I'm editing my own writing...what, Engfish!?!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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