They probably just picked up on the fact that I don't spend enough time editing posts.
The funny thing, though, is that I actually like complex sentences. If I did more editing, it would be to fix mistakes and not to dumb down the writing.
It takes a complex sentence to convey a subtle idea.
One of the reasons that I detest the public schools is that they have been systematically dumbing down both our language and our population. The modern public school has actually convinced millions of people that thinking and writing on a fourth grade level is a good thing.
Schools teach students to sit down with a grammar checker and work until they've pulled all of the beauty from the language. What gives what that?
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Our entire communication culture seems intent on abbreviating everything and crudely communicating ideas in sound-bite terminology.
Average people used to pen beautiful language in everyday letters. People used to pride themselves on this.
My cousin recently put together a book of copies of letters my grandparents wrote to each other during their courtship and the first dozen years of their marriage. Grandpa used to regularly take jobs out of town, like many of the men of his era. Phone calls were very expensive, so communication came by letters, usually delivered by someone that happened to be traveling that way. Although my grandparents didn't have much more than an eighth grade education, the language of their letters is far more beautiful than most of the dreck that passes for writing today.
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