I highlighted over fifty words in David Foster Wallace’s “Tense Present” that to look up after I finished the reading, because I was unsure of the meaning. While I could decipher most of the word’s round-about meaning from context clues, I was really only guessing. The fact that I was left guessing at the vocabulary used in a paper about grammar gives me little hope that I know much of anything about grammar or ever will. When it comes to grammar, I am most often guessing. While I know how to correct a sentence, I don’t know the terminology for what was incorrect to begin with.
Aside from fuming with frustration while reading this piece, there were some points that stuck with me. I found Wallace’s statement that “AE’s real purpose is concealment and its real motivation fear” to hit the nail on the head. I had never thought about this issue in such a way. I’m not sure what can be done to counteract this habit in America, or if there is even room for change.
The other interesting point that Wallace made pertained to a SNOOTlet having only one dialect, the same as the child that only communicates in the dialect they were raised with, and fails in the classroom. I have always been intrigued by dialects, but had never considered that they are like individual languages. Moreover, to converse with multiple groups, is to know a number of manners of communication. I just happens that there is only one dialect when it comes to the academic arena.
3 comments:
Wallace is famous for his use of obscure words. I also had to look up several words he used in this article. I doubt that your list of 50 words says anything about how much you know about grammar.
I share the distaste you and Wallace feel for Academic English. Some people seem to believe that the only way to prove that they are smart is to produce texts that are difficult to read.
I think Wallace is a good example of a talented writer who is "bi-dialectical." He has an extensive, sophisticated vocabulary, but he also mixes a lot of contemporary slang into his writing that really makes it come alive, I think. You have to master SWE to succeed in academia, but that doesn't mean that you have to forget all other dialects entirely.
You highlighted.
Cheers to you love.
I agree that it is important to be bi-dialectical. I have noticed that I am turned off by writers that only speak on one level. It displays a deeper intelligence, in my own opinion, to master multiple manners of communication rather than only one.
As for highlighting, I don't know what I would do without it. Somehow I always end up with as much on my hands and face as on the page.
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