More assurance that writers are needed and valuable members of society

Status
Not open for further replies.

Plot Device

A woman said to write like a man.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 14, 2007
Messages
11,973
Reaction score
1,866
Location
Next to the dirigible docking station
Website
sandwichboardroom.blogspot.com
We found a cockroach. Not a bunch. Just one. So we got on the internet to read up about them and learn what we can before we call an exterminator.

And we found this article:

http://www.sooperarticles.com/home-...rol-articles/war-roaches-property-328659.html

Now, I do not want to be guilty of violating the rule of "respect your fellow writer," but I suspect this guy isn't a writer. Maybe he is a bug expert who was asked to write an article --I don't know. But because of his word choices, this is one of the most bizarre reads I've come across in a long time.

This article reads like maybe it was written in another language, then got rammed through an online translator to cast it into English. But then this hypothetical e-translator made some of the most jarringly clumsy word choices. Or else it really was written by an English-speaker. Either way, I have just two conclusions:

1) The factual content of the article is VERY GOOD content. It was just frustrating to read through this Mad-Libs-Lite presentation of this crucial data.

2) A good writer is valuable person to have.

I almost wanna email this guy and offer to clean it up for him.




Some examples:


Roaches will usually nest in dark places close to meals and drinking water but some individuals have been stunned to find roaches in residence maintain appliances and structures....

One particular of the more prevalent locations to locate roaches in residence maintain structures is behind walls and baseboards....

Several homes have hollow walls that have pipes that run into the nearby sewer program....

If a house isn't appropriately sealed they can get in and it's rather common to find a nest of roaches in property walls. For the exact same explanation, you can usually locate roaches in house basements and crawl spaces....

You can come across a lot of specialist roach sprays at professional pest management products internet sites. These sprays are more powerful and more successful than the ones you will discover in neighborhood stores. Considering that they can cover a great deal of region combating roaches in home walls, they may possibly call for the use of professional spray methods that are also obtainable on the world wide web....

If an infestation gets negative its widespread to discover roaches in family appliances. Several people are stunned to locate them there but roaches are sometimes attracted to the electromagnetic radiation coming from these appliances....
 
Last edited:

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,429
Reaction score
25,447
Location
Snow Cave
Yeah, my first thought is that this was penned by someone whose native language is neither English nor a Romance language. It's more like someone Asian whose English is at the stage where it's mangled yet comprehensible. Which is, of course, better than I am at any Asian language.

Maryn, who hadn't expected much from sooperarticles anyway
 

Plot Device

A woman said to write like a man.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 14, 2007
Messages
11,973
Reaction score
1,866
Location
Next to the dirigible docking station
Website
sandwichboardroom.blogspot.com
Yeah, my first thought is that this was penned by someone whose native language is neither English nor a Romance language. It's more like someone Asian whose English is at the stage where it's mangled yet comprehensible.


Also known as "Engrish." ;)
 

pegasus

practical experience, FTW
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 16, 2011
Messages
132
Reaction score
15
Location
South
It's more like someone Asian whose English is at the stage where it's mangled yet comprehensible. Which is, of course, better than I am at any Asian language.

That was my thought. Lots of big words, all spelled correctly. I imagined a Chinese or Korean guy sitting at a desk with his English dictionary as he composed.
 

Snick

Sockpuppet
Banned
Joined
Jun 13, 2011
Messages
934
Reaction score
86
Location
Havatoo
The writer of that also didn't understand the subject matter, except peraps from the point of view of an entomologist. While the thought that the writer was a non-English speaking person is not unreasonable, I think that the write might have been trying to sound authoritative. The misused words look like they were intended to seem academic or professional.
 
Last edited:

AW Admin

Administrator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
18,772
Reaction score
6,285
While I'm sure the OP didn't mean harm, there's no real point to this thread that doesn't end up as pointing fingers at someone who isn't here, and pretty obviously has some issues with English.

I'm locking this thread; you can appeal to Mac, should you wish.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.