The 'Winners and Losers' article on the front page...

[JohnnyHollywood]

I concur. I believe in earnest that the author valiantly quested to discover words that left his readers bewildered and belittled. This author's possesion of a plethera of enormous vocabulary terms is not to be questioned. His penmanship however, could be deemed uncouth in light of his targeted readers.

See how stupid that sounds? I could have just said, "Yep. Dude tried to hard. I feel stupid now. I couldn't read them big ol words and stuff."

[Quilled Mind]

Originally Posted by VeNoM_2K5

To many big words. :p

It's a chore to read, maybe some people like that much sophistication but you must admit it's a bit over the top.

Don't make threads that point out the fact that you aren't very intelligent. We'll be able to figure that out already by the way you post and reply.
That isn't an insult to the TS, by the way...it's just a guideline for 90% of the thread starters on Sherdog.
The human race should be trying their best to become smarter, not hoping for intellectual leniency, like the reply in front of mine.

[OmfgWhiteBelt]

Originally Posted by VeNoM_2K5

To many big words. :p

It's a chore to read, maybe some people like that much sophistication but you must admit it's a bit over the top.

Yeah I agree. Too many magazine and article writers feel that they must use as many big words as possible in order to sound intelligent.

[Colin]

Big words used unnecessarily (it disrupted the simplicity of the message) but even worse imo is that the flow is off. Theres a few sentences that are very awkwardly written and are likely grammatically wrong.

[OmfgWhiteBelt]

Originally Posted by Colin297

Big words used unnecessarily (it disrupted the simplicity of the message) but even worse imo is that the flow is off. Theres a few sentences that are very awkwardly written and are likely grammatically wrong.

Bingo.

Writers get too into showing off their vocabulary and turn simple sentences into cluster fucks.

[Throatwork518]

Its how some writers appease their egos. I don't hate it because I happen to like obscure words but it can be annoying. Authors can often mistake vocabulary for quality writing.

[Irenaeus]

Originally Posted by JohnnyHollywood

I concur. I believe in earnest that the author valiantly quested to discover words that left his readers bewildered and belittled. This author's possesion of a plethera of enormous vocabulary terms is not to be questioned. His penmanship however, could be deemed uncouth in light of his targeted readers.

See how stupid that sounds? I could have just said, "Yep. Dude tried to hard. I feel stupid now. I couldn't read them big ol words and stuff."

Actually, both your statements sounded rather bad. The first because you made it seem pretentious and ignorant (flowery prose does not go well with spelling errors and erroneous use of words), and the second because you tried to make it just seem plan ol’ dumb.

I could have easily said "your a iddiot", but I don't believe that is the case, nor does it convey my point. It would also make anybody not used to the Sherdog rules of conduct flinch with its horrible abuse of the English language.

[DreamFight]

Originally Posted by VeNoM_2K5

To many big words. :p

It's a chore to read, maybe some people like that much sophistication but you must admit it's a bit over the top.

I was actually about to send an email to the author, and perhaps I still will about this topic, it is horribly written. I do a lot of writing and am considered a good writer by many, and either this guys is trying to impress us with mastery of vocab, or this is just second nature to him and he doesn't know his audience. There is no reason for it to be written like that, some passages are so incorrect and confusing its ridiculous. Like this one:

"While reading too much into their attacks should be avoided, accepting that their attacks will grow sharper and more pronounced should not."

Ok the first piece makes sense, but the second? Accepting their that attacks will go sharper and more pronounced should not be avoided? In other words we should not avoid accepting that their attacks will grow more pronounced and sharper?

What the hell? Basically he could have said the same thing by saying, "we should expect that the attacks on MMA will go sharper and more pronounced."

The simple way is the right way in writing. For whatever reason this bonehead decided it was a good idea to combine "accept" and "avoid" in the same sentence and have them agree.

Another sentence:

"Slice’s demolition at the hands of the UFC’s flotsam and jetsam does nothing but, in their minds anyway, validate not just their criticism of the sport but the sport itself."

Ok so Slice loses at the hands of Ursula's... err I mean the UFC's flotsam and jetsam (characters from the Little Mermaid or as the dictionary defines them: Meaning Ships' goods which are lost at sea. Also used figuratively in non-nautical contexts to means odds and ends, bits and pieces) does nothing except, in their minds wait whose minds? Flotsam and jetsams? No, must be the critics but since it isn't 100% clear this means poor writing. So it does nothing except validate not just their criticism of the sport, but the sport itself?

What the hell? Many critics claim that MMA is not a sport so it validates all at once that MMA is not a sport and a sport at the same time? What? I'm not even sure I can rewrite it because I don't understand it. I guess it should go: "Slice's bloody loss to a guy who couldn't cut it in the UFC not only proves that MMA is sport, but also validates the critic's view that MMA is nothing more than bloodsport."

While the use of flotsam and jetsam is correct, it is a very odd and poor choice given the audience here, but it is really the second part that makes no sense, and again the simplest way of writing is the best, and this could have been made simple, but he choose to mud it up with his crap, making it a confusing and unenjoyable read.

[Sarsippius]

I didn't have to crack open a dictionary or anything, but that article did seem pretty pedantic. While I don't think an article using only monosyllabic words would be necessary - there has to be a happy medium.

[OmfgWhiteBelt]

Originally Posted by DreamFight

I was actually about to send an email to the author, and perhaps I still will about this topic, it is horribly written. I do a lot of writing and am considered a good writer by many, and either this guys is trying to impress us with mastery of vocab, or this is just second nature to him and he doesn't know his audience. There is no reason for it to be written like that, some passages are so incorrect and confusing its ridiculous. Like this one:

"While reading too much into their attacks should be avoided, accepting that their attacks will grow sharper and more pronounced should not."

Ok the first piece makes sense, but the second? Accepting their that attacks will go sharper and more pronounced should not be avoided? In other words we should not avoid accepting that their attacks will grow more pronounced and sharper?

What the hell? Basically he could have said the same thing by saying, "we should expect that the attacks on MMA will go sharper and more pronounced."

The simple way is the right way in writing. For whatever reason this bonehead decided it was a good idea to combine "accept" and "avoid" in the same sentence and have them agree.

Another sentence:

"Slice’s demolition at the hands of the UFC’s flotsam and jetsam does nothing but, in their minds anyway, validate not just their criticism of the sport but the sport itself."

Ok so Slice loses at the hands of Ursula's... err I mean the UFC's flotsam and jetsam (characters from the Little Mermaid or as the dictionary defines them: Meaning Ships' goods which are lost at sea. Also used figuratively in non-nautical contexts to means odds and ends, bits and pieces) does nothing except, in their minds wait whose minds? Flotsam and jetsams? No, must be the critics but since it isn't 100% clear this means poor writing. So it does nothing except validate not just their criticism of the sport, but the sport itself?

What the hell? Many critics claim that MMA is not a sport so it validates all at once that MMA is not a sport and a sport at the same time? What? I'm not even sure I can rewrite it because I don't understand it. I guess it should go: "Slice's bloody loss to a guy who couldn't cut it in the UFC not only proves that MMA is sport, but also validates the critic's view that MMA is nothing more than bloodsport."

While the use of flotsam and jetsam is correct, it is a very odd and poor choice given the audience here, but it is really the second part that makes no sense, and again the simplest way of writing is the best, and this could have been made simple, but he choose to mud it up with his crap, making it a confusing and unenjoyable read.

You should really be writing these articles for the author.