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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
 Posted - 13 Jan 2007 : 13:27:56
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We all make mistakes. Before we know it, the text is gone.
Welcome to this session on how to send highly charged messages with very simple words and short sentences. It is a general problem even with highly professional writers that message and meaning get lost due to the wrong choice and placement of words. There is no shame for anyone to count that as personal weakness. To overcome this and help ourselves take control of our writing, this is special offer to all users of Bantaba so that we share our sincere views in simple, short, and clear statements. It is not meant to underscore anyone's standard but may help even the most able writers to refresh further. If you think you have difficulty in getting your message across, let's hear from you. Someone is able to help. Through that we all learn together. Remember this can be a learning platform while we continue to share useful information on diverse issues. Welcome.
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Karamba |
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toubab1020
12306 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jan 2007 : 13:37:38
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I read your words,are you saying that some posters like words just for the sake of writing words?It is very true that this is the case and the understanding of the reader is somewhat dulled by an overdose of text by some posters.
Yes, Simple is good.Thats why I changed my Avatar! |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Edited by - toubab1020 on 13 Jan 2007 14:46:23 |
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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jan 2007 : 13:57:02
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Toubab,
Being too wordy can result to loss of communication. We all have the temptation of going for BIG words and long winding sentences. It used to be the experience even in Shakespeare's England. Those who could blend high-sounding Latin words were being admired. In Gambia too, some professional people are padded with feathers of words. We can make communication very effective by short and simple expressions. In fact the most widely read publications are written in the simplest and shortest sentences. This problem of wordiness is a global problem. University students are more in trouble than any other. That is why plagiarism is one big issue. Yes, Toubab, we can overcome it if we make things simple. |
Karamba |
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toubab1020
12306 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jan 2007 : 14:51:36
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quote:
Originally posted by Karamba
Toubab,
Being to wordy can result to loss of communication. We all have the temptation of going for BIG words and long winding sentences. ,some professional people are padded with feathers of words.
EXACTLY! Bantaba is suffering from that recently and maybe this is discouriging new posters who are suffering from an overload of words.
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jan 2007 : 15:15:07
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| Some people think that simple sentence is sign of low standard. That is one error many of us live with. Think of other errors and how we can overcome them? |
Karamba |
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Lily
United Kingdom
422 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jan 2007 : 16:24:25
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Simple sentences; clear and precise words; open and honest thoughts. A good idea and intelligent thinking. I'm up for it!
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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jan 2007 : 16:34:15
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Lily,
Good communication is best done in the simplest way. As we talk or write, we are by that process communicating to one of our audience's common senses. Words we use are aimed at painting a picture of our knowledge or feelings we share. If we use too much colour or light our target audience may get blind to see what we present. Can we make a resolution to keep communication short, simple and sweet on Bantaba. If all compatriots keep to that standard, together we make Bantaba the forum to visit. |
Karamba |
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toubab1020
12306 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jan 2007 : 17:36:14
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quote:
Originally posted by Lily
Simple sentences; clear and precise words; open and honest thoughts. A good idea and intelligent thinking. I'm up for it!
GOOD! |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Sister Omega
United Kingdom
2085 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jan 2007 : 21:08:31
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Karamba, I don't think writers should be censored on the Bantabaa. Established members have been writing here for years without a need to adopt rulers other than the ones stated when registering for membership.
Peace
Sister Omega |
Peace
Sister Omega |
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Cornelius
Sweden
1051 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jan 2007 : 21:32:08
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Write more books, novels, poems, theatre scripts, dialogues, songs and PUBLISH Them!
Simplicity is a virtue.
I discover (have found this to be true in over ten years) a perspicacity in my best friend who is Gambian and Mandinka, a perspicacity - for lack of a better word - (in specific areas including Islam) that is unrivalled by any on this forum or that I know generally and I consult with him on many matters. I will be consulting more with him about Gambian affairs and I do not and would not have a fool as a friend. It would be a waste of time and everything else, including breath.
” The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” according to that Englishman called William Shakespeare although Al-Qadhafi says that he was in reality an Arab and his real name was Sheikh Spear.)
In this Sabbath’s Torah Portion SHEMOS (the first five Chapters of the book of EXODUS + 6.1) Moses tells the Almighty Merciful HASHEM, that he is a tongue-tied humble fellow who has no eloquence and pleads that the Almighty should send his brother Aaron instead. Aaron who, as real Muslim fans of Imam Ali, alaihi salaam, would say has “balagha.” – Eloquence, and in this mission it is Aaron who is by Moses’ side as his “balagha.”
And so Moses and Aaron jointly approach the Pharaoh - but its best that you read for yourselves.
http://www.google.se/search?hl=sv&rlz=1T4GGLJ_enSE205SE205&q=Shemos&btnG=S%C3%B6k&meta=
Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa salaam was not tongue-tied. He only took pleasure in being an “Ummi” – sometimes translated as “illiterate” prophet other times UMMI is translated as one who was not familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures.
http://www.google.se/search?hl=sv&rlz=1T4GGLJ_enSE205SE205&q=UMMI+%28Islamic+term&meta=
And so no one should feel shy about being unlettered or going into battle as unarmed as I am.
When I find the time I intend to expatiate on the word BORROW / BORROWED with reference to the religion of Israel, the head of Abrahamic faith.
Meanwhile,
Karamba is concerned with EFFECTIVENESS. This is always in connection with a target audience. Hitler held his masses captive and some are still feeling entranced. (Others still afraid to come out and declare their allegiance.)
Personally speaking I’m at home or even in bed with the English Language. It is my mother tongue – before any other. I love some of those long Faulkner sentences. I am less impressed by Ralph Otte, the Caliph of Caliphfornia. He is one who talks and talks about “woordy”
I also like Jimi Hendrix’s long guitar solos with “The Band of Gypsies”. And senor Paquito D’Rivera had to be taken off stage at Fasching, he was still blowing, after waiting for that long almost interminable McCoy Tyner-like piano solo – Paquito had been very impatient that evening and had tried to cut in a few times with some warning blasts from his horn that it was his turn, but the piano was still cooking & boiling on, so that when Paquito finally cut in and really got going, there was no wind that could hold him back. Just like I said they had to gently lead him off stage. He was still blow blowing. As our venerable mayor of Freetown Winstanley R.Bankole Johnson says,” you simply cannot bring a good man down!!!
http://www.google.se/search?hl=sv&rlz=1T4GGLJ_enSE205SE205&q=Paquito+D%E2%80%99Rivera&btnG=S%C3%B6k&meta=
You know this lyric, by Shakespeare?
“Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember'd not.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly. ”
Shakespeare also said “How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have an ungrateful child”
My son who studied a year at the Journalist’s University after studying everything else, instructs me sometimes that “less is more.” He is one of my many mentors….. (Smile)
Swedish is his first language. And since someone reposted some of his family facts in the Bantaba, may I add that his maternal grandparents got married in 1937 and are still married. Journalism is in his blood.
Karamba should also point out that the Bantaba readership is not wholly English or English as a first language and in writing, the target audience has to be taken into consideration. I am aware of that. I should certainly approach reality in a different manner were I to write a letter of complaint to the Times. In a subsequent posting you will soon read an example of such an approach, as I write to the Times to complain, this time as a stiff-upper lip no nonsense and precisely clipped German aristocrat as you will tell from a language that is far from whining, dishonest, lying or riff-raff as one who has direct access to £300,000,000 cash Sterling.
I have always held George Orwell as an ideal. It’s good to have read all that he has written.
There are also many courses in” English as a Foreign Language” and “English as a Second Language.” But in the Gambia where we are still (according to the BBC) voting with our marbles, SIMPLE English should suffice. Jokes, irony, satire or even low-down methods could be misinterpreted. I have also noticed on Bantaba that some people pretend to be addressing me, when in fact they are making a case against me, and trying to mislead the innocent, impressionable or credulous members of Bantaba. (We understand matters that are even more complicated than US interests in NAFT and that understanding is more than 40 years old.)
Perhaps we should also be addressing the issue that Ngugi Wa Thiong'o is at the forefront and of which he is the foremost exponent: When are you guys going to start writing in your mother tongues?
http://www.google.se/search?hl=sv&rlz=1T4GGLJ_enSE205SE205&q=+Ngugi++Wa+Thiong%27o+and+the+English+Language&btnG=S%C3%B6k&meta=
The fact is, English is the dominant intellectual language of our times and let’s just ignore the likely machine-gun protests from the French ---- that’s what they sound like when they rapid-speak: like machine guns.
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm
http://www.voidspace.org.uk/cyberpunk/orwell.shtml
http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/002568.html
In my imaginary stiff-upper lip letter to THE TIMES or to PUNCH that will follow shortly, I complain about a peculiar situation.
I imagine myself as German, with the acquisition of the English who defeated ) as a second language and I express my consternation when, I joined a Nigerian Forum and one fine day I notice a posting which was accompanied by a German name, somewhat Jewish not - Schwarze****** - and curiosity gets me wagging my tail in excitement .( This happens according to both Paul Theroux and the late Shiva Naipaul ( brother of V.S. ) when a toubab sees another toubab on the other side of the street lets say on his first day in down town Nairobi and wants to know ” Are you from Sweden ? Norway Great Britain etc” On the other side of the spectrum you have Richard Pryor in East Africa who sees soul people everywhere - even the police and then he knows that he’s no longer in USA. Check out the double DVD. He ceased with the n-word soon thereafter.)
NB:
When the colonial Brit used to get lost in the African or Indian or Burmese jungle, upon seeing one of the indigenes/natives ( what joy!) his first question even from afar invariably was, “Do you speak English?!?"
So here I am self-appointed German ambassador of the 80 million Germans, and here to shine all that post-holocaust light on the Nigerian Forum when suddenly I espy another German name (Schwarze******) starts posting. Guten Morgen! Is there enough room for two Germans in the same room, one called Abraham for that that matter? Gotta check him out. But his mother is Igbo so he can’t be that dangerous etc. and in fact if I am the original Jew ( for B people who could belive anything a toubab says) then I can knock him out. Pure(fantasy like Rocky's).
I didn't mean another ****** like me, I meant:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=sv&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Schwarze******&spell=1
Arnold my dear are you there?
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=sv&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Arnold,+Mayor+of+California&spell=1
But for now, I’ve got some post-Sabbath washing & cleaning up to do as my wife is on her way back home to me, to us, from three weeks in Australia.
Letter, later, 4U2 laff.
PS. I don’t like Mugabe’s Hitler-looking moustache either.
Perhaps it's time to start RAPPIN'? |
Edited by - Cornelius on 13 Jan 2007 22:37:22 |
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toubab1020
12306 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jan 2007 : 22:32:54
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quote:
Originally posted by Sister Omega
Karamba, I don't think writers should be censored on the Bantabaa. Established members have been writing here for years without a need to adopt rulers other than the ones stated when registering for membership.
Peace
Sister Omega
Did anyone mention censorship?the only thing that was mentioned was excessive use of words, just so words could be used and thus degrading the clear meaning of what was being conveyed.
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Cornelius
Sweden
1051 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jan 2007 : 22:44:37
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Great Judge, must we all go back to school?
Degrading meaning?
Whose words & whose meaning?
Surely you are free to write your own words and to think your own thoughts and express them without any corrections by Chuck D or from me!
James Joyce? Stream of consciousness? - Please identify correctly what it is not and do feel free. Joyce was not confused - he was one of the greatest. When there is a failure at communicating, then someone has failed.
That in itself is no crime.
I never try to understand the things that are not understandable.
Someday I will be able to read "The Glass Bead Game" to the end.
It's not Hesse's fault that I haven't be able to read it to the end after many attempts. I get stuck somewhere in the Middle and cannot proceed. I start again. Same thing happens futher along the way.
http://www.google.se/search?sourceid=navclient-menuext&ie=UTF-8&q=%22The+Glass+Bead+Game%22
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Edited by - Cornelius on 14 Jan 2007 05:11:45 |
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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jan 2007 : 23:01:34
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Thank you Toubab.
Sister Omega missed something out. Nobody mentioned censorship. These are open suggestions to people not just Bantaba users. Many people in this world have difficulty expressing themselves simple and clear. Not only is this true about those who write. It is also true about many who speak. Lot of public speakers fall into the temptation of sounding loud but not clear. In writing also lot of noise is carried without the writer being aware. I make mistakes and do know that many others make similar mistakes. This is a discussion open to those who consider the problems associated with wordiness. I am not an authority over anyone in Bantaba and will never suggest censorship. I AM TOTALLY AGAINST ANY FORM OF DICTATORSHIP. Censorship is one of the attributes of dictatorship. Certainly Sister Omega, I am in no way suggesting dictatorship. I will be more than happy to help anyone who needs help in keeping their communication short, sharp, simple and effective. That does not mean I have business in what anyone chooses to write. Get me clear. |
Karamba |
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Cornelius
Sweden
1051 Posts |
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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jan 2007 : 23:23:46
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Cornelius,
About users of Bantaba not being native King's English speakers,hmmm!! English is only one of the many wriiten and spoken languages. In Gambia we have unwritten languages but being able to communicate solid sense through generations. This is not about English. I am aware that English is just ONE language in this wider world of languages. In fact there are many people in the Queen's England of 21 century who could write nothing other than their names. Last year, a study carried in the UK revealed that mobile text language is bearing devastating impacts on standard usage. Therefore it is not about English speakers and English writers. These are universal principles of communication, written or spoken. Get that clear. The original statement of introduction did not mention the word ENGLISH because I am aware that English is not the only written language. I am quite impressed with the standard some Gambians command mastery of both spoken and written aspects of communication. It is not just English but all other written languages. Without any fear of exageration, one dares say there is perhaps no written language in this world that at least one Gambian is not able to read and write at high standard. Yet, we are humble with our rich unwritten but highly communicable languages for generations. Hope that carries some sense. |
Karamba |
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Lily
United Kingdom
422 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jan 2007 : 23:30:56
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Perhaps there's no harm in being clear and using simple and precise words to convey meaning? It helps everyone to understand exactly what one is trying to say.
Of course all languages are rich and metaphors and flowing sentences are wonderful. The greatest literary geniuses are just that - literary geniuses. The greatest poetry and prose is full of hidden meanings, twists and turns and is exciting to read - but conversely simple language is not censorship but (sometimes) is merely a tool to allow access to meaning to all.
We can all play games in the ways in which we write and the tongues in which we speak - but do we have to?? |
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