Assessing Blame | Bill O'Reilly
Did Eric Holder Lie Under Oath? | Katie Pavlich
DNC: Republicans Doctored Emails and Are Making Up These Scandals or Something | Katie Pavlich
Fox News' Roger Ailes: Administration's Excuses Won't Work, Americans Died For Press Freedom | Katie Pavlich
John McCain And Marco Rubio's "Let’s End Conservatism In America Amnesty Bill" | John Hawkins
Obama's Bloody Recipe for More Benghazis | Michelle Malkin
BREAKING: DOJ Confirms Holder Personally "Vetted" Rosen Warrant | Guy Benson
Documents: Lois Lerner Was Directly Involved in Targeting Program | Guy Benson
Next question: If we suppose that 5 percent of these readers were likely to stumble over "contretemps," should the writer have discarded it and substituted "embarrassing mishap" in its place? Now the sentence would be instantly clear to everybody! Isn't that every writer's goal? To be read? To be understood? We're talking everyday prose, not poetry -- the kind of prose that goes into a sermon, a book review, a corporation's annual report, the minutes of the ladies' sodality.
Writers must write to please their readers. Otherwise, they won't be writing long. But dammit, writers also write to please themselves. If all those puzzled readers don't know "contretemps," let 'em look it up.
- Topics:
- Media and Culture
- MSNBC
James J. Kilpatrick
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James J. Kilpatrick has been reporter, editor, columnist, commentator, and briefly an adjunct professor of journalism.
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