What a pretenious BS statement. "Functionally illiterate"? Writing is a form of communication whose purpose is to convey ideas. Therefore a "good writer" in my opinion, is one who can effectively and concisely convey that message. I'm not knocking this guy's blog. I found the thesis interesting and the writing sytle entertaining. It's just that I spent 3 years reading grad student papers written in that style, which more often than not, I found it o be a poor substitute for the writer's inability to effectively communicate an idea. Many students would write in this overly verbose style because they labored under the false impression that passive sentence structures, frequent use of nomilizations, unecessary modifiers, and overuse of a thesaurus made them "sound smart."

Now, before I get flamed, I am not knocking the article. There is a time and place for that type of writing, which, when done properly, can be very poetic and can be appreciated in its own right, apart from the message it is trying to convey. I think that article was one of those instances.

I do however, take issue with the sentiment that people who do not appreciate that writing style are "functionally illiterate." Has the thought ever crossed your mind that in most instances, people are reading for content, and do not want to slog through a 5 page essay whose ideas could be effectively communicated in one?

I just cannot abide by pretentious statements like the one quoted above. If everything you write sounds like Hawthorne or a sociological discertation, chances are that you do not effectively communicate.