A number of years ago I was asked to edit some papers written by PhD candidates in psychology. One of these wrote of an an experiment that "the pigeon had previously received placement in the box." This was supposed to mean that the pigeon was put in the box before the experiment began. Take about unecessary jargon. Writing like this obfuscates rather than illuminates, and I sometimes thank that's deliberate: take something quite simple and pump it up with useless phrases that make it sound more difficult, hence more "scientific." Some of what passes for English these days is truly ludicrous, and these people are going to "teach" others? Egad.

Lee



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2005 09:40AM by Lee.