I wonder why, or if you are aware that, your audio presentations stop short (this one cuts out at 9:41)?
***
Models’ assumptions are un-dipped Achilles & those invariably & inevitably bring to heel the whole superhero of a 1000 faces —or a 1000 perfect sentences— not to mention his/their hound dogs who aint never caught a rabbit & ain’t no friend o’ mimes.
Consider an alternative: All the very best things have already been written, over & over again.
And? So?
Has all that pretty penning convinced the species higher? Or is it more a conviction of “how to win friends & influence people” machinations?
Alternative: Coloring outside the one-way lines, with the 6-feet intervals, gets failing public school grades because it violates default ways of seeing the “It’s your world boss, I just live in it.”
Alternative: A pretty face don’t make no pretty heart. (Bad Case of Loving You ~ Robert Palmer) Or a good singer, either.
Alternative: Audiences out there are the ball, & “communicating persuasively & effectively” with those audiences are the chain-chain-chain, chain-chain-chain, Chain of Fools.
(Would Aretha be pretty enough to make it —commercially— today?)
Alternative: Defaults, dear Brutus, are in “our stars” selves inherited from other solar systems before our own had condensed into being, not in our own stars selves, which may, almost certainly will, have faults of their —your— own … but better your own, which you might do something about, might learn something outside-the-lines useful with, than someones’ elses'.
Alternative: Gutenberg presses the flesh thin, thinner, thinnest, soaks it in milk (& honey words), redolent of mother, puts it under glass & elicits salivation while false-promising salvation.
How much for that little doggie in the window?
Why, everything you’ve got, of course.
The Prussian schooling, even when it’s grammarly algo’d, benefits the Prussians — not you.
Write it like you stole it, because that’s what it takes to maybe get back what was stolen from you “like candy from a baby.”
Thank you Dr. Yoho, this article is excellent. More physicians should learn to write. As Jordan Peterson says, "we write so that are idiot thoughts can die before we do."
I started writing when I was 12. When I was frustrated with my drunken parents, I would write about it in my room. Now my kids are writers, shining reviews and grades from their college professors.
Thank you Dr. Yoho. I am considering starting a Substack account. After listening to your sobering message, I will get started sooner rather than later.
Sounds like only perfect writing is sufficient. Nothing less will do. Time to call in the A/i boys who never get it wrong. The problem then becomes in that it can lie as well any as any human. But do it in a perfect manner. Splendid.
Robert Yoho, I love you. I get stabbed so many times daily by the sword of horribly used language, not only in English (my second language) but also in Afrikaans, my mother tongue. Writing or speaking, most people seemed to be half-literate. Once you’ve been a newspaper sub-editor mentored by the greats in the good old days, you cannot read anything in peace and quiet - your system is constantly shocked and outraged by all the word-vomiting. Even the best researched articles on Substack are marred by so many sloppy mistakes, a clear indication the writers do not bother to read through and clean up their writing. One example is A Midwestern Doctor. Every mistake undermines the credibility of the content. I am not the best writer in English, which I still struggle with, having learned it late in life, but I have the discipline never to post anything I haven’t read through several times. Thanks Robert, jy is ‘n man so na my hart! And I like your sense of humour. 💕
Great article. You’re very generous. But there’s a problem with Substack- they’re wanting age verification in some countries. Writers are removing themselves from the platform because of it and readers are, quite understandably, refusing to give age verification. Such a shame, but to give age verification is to put another nail in our coffin.
I appreciate your suggestions, however, perhaps if you write intelligently, instead of lowering your vocabulary to the readers level, the reader will want to understand the terminology and look it up, like I do, when I don’t fully understand the meaning of a word. Just a thought
According to rscheearch at Cmabridge uinervertisy, it deosn't mttaer waht oreder the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihing is taht the first and last letteres are at the rghit pclace. The rset can be a tatol mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef byt eh wrod as a wlohe,
Dr. Yoho is one of the best writers out there on Substack that I have found to date. Not only are his posts informative, educational and often mind boggling, but they are a joy to read.
I work with lawyers, authors, real estate developers and others who need the skills of a wordsmith, so I am on the computer all day editing, proofreading, researching and writing. I completely agree with Dr. Yoho about the necessity of learning how to write. Even more important is learning to read using phonics as soon as possible, even before kindergarten.
One of the reasons why our children and grandchildren are such bad writers is that they were abusively taught "whole word" reading wherein they were expected to memorize thousands of words rather than learning how to sound out the letters phonetically. This is one of the greatest tragedies mankind has experienced and I am glad to see that the schools are being mandated in many cases to go back to phonics.
Many thanks for this short essay and all the other wisdom that Dr. Yoho shares with his audience of loyal readers!
PS- I too am a fan of Stephen King's book "On writing".
As always, Dr. Yoho has the best voice on Substack. Matt Taibbi should hire him instead of using the awful AI tool. For me, writing is essential to understanding what I know about a topic. Initial drafts shine a spotlight on dark corners that I can then choose to delete or take the time to flesh out. I also pay for Grammarly as well, even though I find it obsessed with commas and hyphens.
I wonder why, or if you are aware that, your audio presentations stop short (this one cuts out at 9:41)?
***
Models’ assumptions are un-dipped Achilles & those invariably & inevitably bring to heel the whole superhero of a 1000 faces —or a 1000 perfect sentences— not to mention his/their hound dogs who aint never caught a rabbit & ain’t no friend o’ mimes.
Consider an alternative: All the very best things have already been written, over & over again.
And? So?
Has all that pretty penning convinced the species higher? Or is it more a conviction of “how to win friends & influence people” machinations?
Alternative: Coloring outside the one-way lines, with the 6-feet intervals, gets failing public school grades because it violates default ways of seeing the “It’s your world boss, I just live in it.”
Alternative: A pretty face don’t make no pretty heart. (Bad Case of Loving You ~ Robert Palmer) Or a good singer, either.
Alternative: Audiences out there are the ball, & “communicating persuasively & effectively” with those audiences are the chain-chain-chain, chain-chain-chain, Chain of Fools.
(Would Aretha be pretty enough to make it —commercially— today?)
Alternative: Defaults, dear Brutus, are in “our stars” selves inherited from other solar systems before our own had condensed into being, not in our own stars selves, which may, almost certainly will, have faults of their —your— own … but better your own, which you might do something about, might learn something outside-the-lines useful with, than someones’ elses'.
Alternative: Gutenberg presses the flesh thin, thinner, thinnest, soaks it in milk (& honey words), redolent of mother, puts it under glass & elicits salivation while false-promising salvation.
How much for that little doggie in the window?
Why, everything you’ve got, of course.
The Prussian schooling, even when it’s grammarly algo’d, benefits the Prussians — not you.
Write it like you stole it, because that’s what it takes to maybe get back what was stolen from you “like candy from a baby.”
When I was in high school, and University, they taught us this.
Nowadays, not so much.
Thankyou for a great post.
Thank you Dr. Yoho, this article is excellent. More physicians should learn to write. As Jordan Peterson says, "we write so that are idiot thoughts can die before we do."
Enjoyed your post and wanted to read your 2022 version. Unfortunately, when I clicked on the link in this article, I got a "File Not Found" error.
Rick
I'll relink it sorry
I started writing when I was 12. When I was frustrated with my drunken parents, I would write about it in my room. Now my kids are writers, shining reviews and grades from their college professors.
Thank you Dr. Yoho. I am considering starting a Substack account. After listening to your sobering message, I will get started sooner rather than later.
join the revolution
Sounds like only perfect writing is sufficient. Nothing less will do. Time to call in the A/i boys who never get it wrong. The problem then becomes in that it can lie as well any as any human. But do it in a perfect manner. Splendid.
if you want flaws, use AI
Robert Yoho, I love you. I get stabbed so many times daily by the sword of horribly used language, not only in English (my second language) but also in Afrikaans, my mother tongue. Writing or speaking, most people seemed to be half-literate. Once you’ve been a newspaper sub-editor mentored by the greats in the good old days, you cannot read anything in peace and quiet - your system is constantly shocked and outraged by all the word-vomiting. Even the best researched articles on Substack are marred by so many sloppy mistakes, a clear indication the writers do not bother to read through and clean up their writing. One example is A Midwestern Doctor. Every mistake undermines the credibility of the content. I am not the best writer in English, which I still struggle with, having learned it late in life, but I have the discipline never to post anything I haven’t read through several times. Thanks Robert, jy is ‘n man so na my hart! And I like your sense of humour. 💕
agree w all
I find myself editing my speech
Great article. You’re very generous. But there’s a problem with Substack- they’re wanting age verification in some countries. Writers are removing themselves from the platform because of it and readers are, quite understandably, refusing to give age verification. Such a shame, but to give age verification is to put another nail in our coffin.
my mirror site is dryoho.com
A favorite......E B White, The Elements of Style
of course
Adverbs and... adjectives - the lead-weight fillers of most poor writing.
I appreciate your suggestions, however, perhaps if you write intelligently, instead of lowering your vocabulary to the readers level, the reader will want to understand the terminology and look it up, like I do, when I don’t fully understand the meaning of a word. Just a thought
According to rscheearch at Cmabridge uinervertisy, it deosn't mttaer waht oreder the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihing is taht the first and last letteres are at the rghit pclace. The rset can be a tatol mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef byt eh wrod as a wlohe,
point made: GIGO
Off topic-- have you heard of Neil Nathan's book, "Toxic"?
And PK therapy by Patricia Kane, PhD?
I'm on Kane's PK IV and PO
Dr. Yoho is one of the best writers out there on Substack that I have found to date. Not only are his posts informative, educational and often mind boggling, but they are a joy to read.
I work with lawyers, authors, real estate developers and others who need the skills of a wordsmith, so I am on the computer all day editing, proofreading, researching and writing. I completely agree with Dr. Yoho about the necessity of learning how to write. Even more important is learning to read using phonics as soon as possible, even before kindergarten.
One of the reasons why our children and grandchildren are such bad writers is that they were abusively taught "whole word" reading wherein they were expected to memorize thousands of words rather than learning how to sound out the letters phonetically. This is one of the greatest tragedies mankind has experienced and I am glad to see that the schools are being mandated in many cases to go back to phonics.
Many thanks for this short essay and all the other wisdom that Dr. Yoho shares with his audience of loyal readers!
PS- I too am a fan of Stephen King's book "On writing".
https://robertyoho.substack.com/p/278-fun-with-dick-and-jane?utm_source=publication-search
As always, Dr. Yoho has the best voice on Substack. Matt Taibbi should hire him instead of using the awful AI tool. For me, writing is essential to understanding what I know about a topic. Initial drafts shine a spotlight on dark corners that I can then choose to delete or take the time to flesh out. I also pay for Grammarly as well, even though I find it obsessed with commas and hyphens.