Saturday, January 3, 2009

The Winds of Change-- Piss-poor, i mean really piss-poor, writing



To follow are some excerpts from the editor's note in the current (January 1, 2009) AmericanWay (American Airline's in-flight magazine).

It's titled "The Winds of Change" and it beings with the sentence "Change is in the air." A few sentences later we get this gem:

" It's as Marcus Aurelius believed in that everything existing 'is already disintegrating and changing.' "

what the fuck?

i mean what the fuck?

(and this can't be explained by a simple "typo." go ahead and try. i did)

ok, now, rewind,...(and continuing forward)

" It's as Marcus Aurelius believed in that everything existing 'is already disintegrating and changing.' True enough, but those who successfully grasp that concept, I believe, will be able to make the inevitable evolutionary course of action changes in their favor. "

mmmmm-hmmmmmm

And, a bit later in the article the editor introduces us to some members of the AmericanWay team:

" Eric Celeste is our leadoff man...On deck is Cathy Booth Thompson...And batting cleanup is the most chiseled writer I've ever read. "

O, Lord!!-- i was so absolutely astonished by the adjective "chiseled" it took me a while to notice that the clean up hitter's batting 3rd. (most any Baseball fan knows the cleanup hitter bats 4th.)

but again who can even think of baseball, etc, when you're trying to properly savor the phrase
" the most chiseled writer I have every read" !!!!!!!



finally, the Editor's note ends with a call for comments and suggestions (adam.pitluk@aapubs.com):

" let me know if we're moving in the right direction. Until then, let us entertain you. "

well, Adam, i'm not sure what direction you're moving in (though I'm sure it's not a straight line) but you certainly have entertained me!

4 comments:

Elisa said...

That was hilarious. I love bad writing.

Rauan Klassnik said...

yes, especially when it's a native speaker! then i don't feel mean at all,....

Unknown said...

what is wrong with the letter from mr. pitluck? i think it was very well-written. and native is correct: the typo on the "change" part is actually yours alone ... he wrote "change" and you wrote "changes." plus, aren't you a poet? for a poet, you're quite critical of someone else's prose. you obviously have an agenda. that's narrow mindedness and hardly artistic. that and your profanity is really off-putting. your review is "piss poor." And using phrases like "piss poor" is amateur.

Rauan Klassnik said...

Sam-- when i use "bad" language i know i´m going to offend some people. (but strange that you didn´t seem to mind all the profanity from "native" tho, did you? funny.) and, if you think Pitluk´s "letter" was "well-written" well, then, good luck to ya

Native-- Thanks for the anonymous post and thanks for opening an account just to post it. For all I know YOU might be the author of this "piss-poor" writing.

and, now, some response and pushback:

I can be narrow-winded, unfair, mean, etc... but let´s get real here. American Airlines is not a disabled school-recess kid. Not some hope-chest blog author.

If they´re incompetent enough to let this sort of writing (from an editor no less!) appear in their magazine then they should expect to take it on the chin. The writing in this "Editor´s Note" is "piss-poor" and American Airlines should be ashamed of it.

And, yes, "changes" is indeed a typo (my bad) but that´s not what I´m laughing at:

The entire section I quoted is terribly written-- but the phrase "It´s as Marcus Aurelius believed in that" is absolutely retarded. huh????

thanks for reading my blog and taking the time to make comments.