"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." -Mark Twain
Save that thought.
So, I took my SAT's yesterday. It was a long, excruciating process- no joke, no lie, no exaggeration. I thought, with as much experience as I've had taking test after test, week after week, over an accumulation of sixteen years, nine months, and seventeen days, that this would be a breeze. It wasn't- I lost stamina, not even half-way through. Word of advice to those who haven't taken the SAT yet: don't fight it, timed writes really do help.
During one of the three critical reading sections, during one of the million excerpts and passages, one short story really struck me. Let me just say, after about the first section the stories all start running together; you end up filling in the second half of each sentence and skimming paragraphs, bored out of your mind. The reason why I'm not fond of reading comprehension questions is simple- I'm terrible at them. I'm incredibly stubborn, and if I'm not interested in what's been given to me to read, I just won't read it. In these cases, I usually forget words the instant after I read them. So the fact that this excerpt particularly stuck out means a lot. The story was about Zubin, a computer programmer who decided to then pursue life as a novelist. He quickly learned that writing out repetitive source coding in complex computer programs is very different from writing a book. A book requires finding the exactly right words to fit into the exactly right sentences with the exactly right structure, etc. etc. etc. It's a much more meticulous process. In the end, Zubin had a new-found respect for writers, as well as a greater knowledge of the off-the-page work involved.
The quote mentioned at the top of the blog was mentioned in the passage mentioned in the previous paragraph. I'm sure I wasted a good three minutes of my test time rereading Mark Twain's wise words over and over. I believe that there's two types of people in the world: the writers, and the editors. I am an editor. I've never really written out an actual draft, of anything. When I write, I continually pick apart what I want to say in my head until I find it worthy enough to put on paper. I rarely find existing words capable enough to perfectly express my thoughts. I am extremely picky; my thesaurus is my best friend. Knowing that someone else felt the same way was a huge relief.
light⋅ning–nouna brilliant electric spark discharge in the atmosphere, occurring within a thundercloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the ground.
light⋅ning bug
–noun
any nocturnal beetle of the family Lampyridae, characterized by a soft body with a light-producing organ at the rear of the abdomen.
"firefly." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 17 Mar. 2009.
Just some food for thought, I guess.
Yahooing the "importance of words", I came across a business article about how to make your writing more effective in the corporate world. I realized, words connect countless topics. You can end up learning a lot from something you wouldn't think relates at all to what you're talking about.
i like how you used "yahoo" as a verb!
ReplyDeletei'm a little confused, so you read the article about "Zubin" as one of the readings in the SAT?
i don't think i am specifically an editor or a writer, i do both, and i have a hard time with both. like you, the thesaurus is my friend, i always press Shift+f7 (shortcut key for thesaurus) when i'm using Microsoft Word.
-daisyfriend
Let me just say that I completely relate with you. I also took the SAT on Saturday and man...not even the grande cafe mocha I got from Starbucks that morning was enough to keep me focused. See, I have an extremely short attention span. My philosophy is, "If you have something to say, say it and don't go pussyfooting around it. Because otherwise, I'm skipping right on over you." Which is funny because as you stated those reading comphrension things are as long as heck. I often (and that's an understatement) find myself just staring at the passage in front of me or, even worse, reading the same line over and over and over again. Still, that section as well as the writing portion are my best areas. Not to brag but I score high on those and completely bomb the math. The difference between the two scores is ridiculous. Like, I get decimals on math. They're not even whole numbers.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, like you, I am also extremely anal about my word choice. If I can't immediately think of the word, I will sit there for however long it takes looking through thesauruses and dictionaries to find the right one. No lie. Sometimes I even have to stop myself when I'm editing other peoples' work from completely re-writing their entire piece when the words just don't sound right to me. Because hey, I may be the editor, but it's their work and they chose that word for a reason so I'll respect it. It's like the difference between saying, "She looked at him, grateful." and "She looked at him, her eyes shining with gratitude." Granted, they mean the same thing but I like one better than the other. Everyone has their own style.
-theeconomist
To Daisyfriend:
ReplyDeleteYes, sorry for the confusion- the excerpt from the short story about Zubin was one of the passages from the Critical Reading portion of the SAT.
That's an interesting perspective. I'm sure you can be both, as well as being neither. Thank you for your input.
To Theeconomist:
Wow, I'm not sure I've ever had more than a tall anything from Starbucks.
I, like you, have an extremely short attention span. There have been many times that I've personally diagnosed myself with ADHD. That's really funny- how you hate the reading sections, but you do so well. I guess that's the difference between talent and passion: you may be great at something, but if you don't enjoy doing it, then you should pursue something else, something you're crazy about.
When you described editing another person's work in the second paragraph, I immediately thought about the numerous times I've had to help my sister write a school paper. She get's so mad at me sometimes, because I pick apart her sentences and rearrange everything. I have to remind myself over and over not to change the voice of the essay, just grammatical errors.
-A Little Bird
Hi,
ReplyDeleteJust like daisyfriend I am neither an editor nor a writer. I constantly use Thesaurus.com while I am trying to write to pick out the perfect word though. I took the SAT a very long time ago I learned that In the English language there are a lot of words that have similar meaning but they all have subtle differences. I have noticed from reading that the writer who write well take time to pick and choose their words.