I have had multiple opportunities to look over and/or comment on things ranging from learning outcomes to works proposed for publication, and the one thing I keep seeing repeated, over and over, is something along the lines of 'no wordsmithing.' This is sort of surprising because it seems like such a 19th century term to me. I do not think I heard this word a dozen times in my life but I have definitely heard (or read it) a dozen times in the last month. Where did this come from? On one level, I understand this. Focus on word order, preferred terminology, and other (sort of) minutiae, especially when provided by multiple people, can be difficult to navigate. Once a few people have been at a document with track changes, it can be pretty difficult to decipher - especially if you do not know how to use alternative views. On another level, I am mildly bothered by these blanket, absolute prohibitions against commenting on language use. And to me 'no wordsmithing' has just a hint of the anti-intellectual attitudes I recall from 2nd grade. There is a great t shirt at Snorg tees that sort of illustrates this. It shows: "Let's eat grandma" versus "Let's eat, grandma." Just add (or take away) the word 'not' from several sentences. Even a word like 'slightly' can make a substantial difference.
As a qualitative researcher I feel like to some extent my living is in words and language. Sometimes, especially for people who focus on interview research, that is all, or nearly all there is. It is difficult and time consuming both to interpret what was said and to re-present the words so that they hold true and have impact. Wordsmithing in that sense is something I am devoted to. So I hate to see the term or concept disparaged. During the few years I have been involved in higher ed (since 2005), I think language use has deteriorated. I have reviewed student papers in which, no exaggeration, not a single sentence was grammatically correct. I am unfortunately getting to be as bad as everyone else (that is how I see it) about letting a lot of things slide when I review for publication. But the inappropriately casual, the use of they (singular), the use of the definitive or causal assertions when authors should state sometimes, potentially or suggests, chronic and ongoing passive voice, inappropriate present tense, anthropomorphism, and many other violators of the APA style guide are things that I sometimes ignore and almost always consider and reconsider before I dare make a comment. Along with that, I cannot believe that people who are asking for comments really do not want comments about language use. If your grammar is poor (i.e., if you write :if you're grammar is poor), do you really not want me to mention that? Would you prefer that I snicker to myself about what a dumb bunny (that's a term from my father-in-law that is a lot more polite than some of my go to expressions) you are, despite having a graduate degree?
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AuthorI am Sheryl L. Chatfield, Ph.D, C.T.R.S. I am a member of the faculty in the College of Public Health at Kent State University. I also Co-coordinate the Graduate Certificate in Qualitative Research and I am a member of the Design Innovation Team at Kent State. Archives
February 2024
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