Unclear Writing: What Does That Even Mean?
April 10th, 2008 Posted in WritingHere’s a real life writing example from the ‘what does that even mean?’ file:
“Mike’s personal history and present ministry evidences in The Foursquare Church indicate his unique gifting and calling as regarding his new pursuits among us.”
It comes from a Foursquare news release from a few months ago about a staff change. The quote comes from the president, Jack Hayford. Unfortunately I didn’t have the power to rewrite that line and make it a little more sensible (I tried).
Pastor Jack (as the Foursquare insiders call him) is a well liked guy. But sometimes I have no idea what he’s talking about.
3 Responses to “Unclear Writing: What Does That Even Mean?”
By Mark Goodyear on Apr 10, 2008
Vague, vague, vague. “personal history” “present ministry evidences” “unique gifting “unique…calling” “new pursuits”
These phrases could mean anything at all.
By Carl Bliss on Apr 10, 2008
Yup. I can actually hear what went on in the head:
Type Type Type… ooh… no we can’t say it that way… try this… Type Type Type… oooh… that doesn’t work… word it THIS way…. type type type….
There… we managed to express our thought without actually letting on what that thought may be!
By abby on Apr 10, 2008
I keep trying to sort it out, thinking if I add a comma here or take out a word there then the whole thing will make sense. So far, no luck.