tales of an ordinary girl

7 comments: to “ Blog Readability ”

• The Exterminator
  Friday, November 9, 2007 at 1:05:00 PM CST  

  Well, OG, mine came up as Junior High, too.
  
  I think a low score means you're a clear, concise writer. In the newspaper business, at least back in the day when I was in it, we were supposed to write to the level of a bright 4th grader. The idea being: if you couldn't tell your story without obfuscating the facts with highfalutin' verbiage, you really couldn't tell your story.
  
  So you should be proud.
• John Evo
  Friday, November 9, 2007 at 3:21:00 PM CST  

  Exterminator:
  
  Excuse me? "obfuscating the facts with highfalutin' verbiage"? What the HELL does THAT mean? Sounds dirty.
  
  I won't tell my score. Exterminator is going to call me an ambiguous, verbose, blowhard... which is demonstrably accurate.
  
  What's the old saying? If you can't dazzle with brilliance...?
  
  Meanwhile, OG, you just stick to your own brilliance and don't worry about the "level". I wonder what one of my favorite authors, Dr. Suess, would score?
• Unknown
  Friday, November 9, 2007 at 3:23:00 PM CST  

  In truth I was happy with the classification. I was being a bit sarcastic. Ha! I need to go back to grade school. ;)
• The Exterminator
  Friday, November 9, 2007 at 3:58:00 PM CST  

  John-Evo & OG:
  If you've never tried obfuscating the facts with highfalutin' verbiage you should. You'd both be in for a REAL treat! But don't do it if you have a weak heart. (And you probably should keep it a secret from your respective spouses if you choose to try it together.)
  
  Seriously, I work with "parsing machines" all the time when I do educational writing. I suspect that's what we're dealing with here. The algorithm checks for word length, word "difficulty," sentence structure, and paragraphing. Oddly, you can make your content appear more difficult if you have lots of spelling errors and run-on sentences, and smush multiple ideas into unending paragraphs. When I'm forced to create a text at a certain target level, I usually play with the number of commas and paragraphs, and substitute synonyms that are -- depending on the target -- either longer or shorter than the words I originally used. OG has already read a private rant by me on the quality of educational publishing, so I'll keep my mouth shut here. Suffice it to say, though, that the concern with reading level has little to do with whether or not the kids can really understand what you're saying.
  
  John: Even without knowing your score I'd call you all those names. Of course, it takes one to know one.
• John Evo
  Saturday, November 10, 2007 at 1:44:00 AM CST  

  "John: Even without knowing your score I'd call you all those names. Of course, it takes one to know one."
  
  You are having WAY too much fun at my expense today. Is it Saturday yet?
• Mamacita Chilena
  Sunday, November 11, 2007 at 12:06:00 PM CST  

  It said I'm at a high school level. Which means it's probably wrong wrong wroooooong. Your blog should definitely have a higher readability than mine. Yours is one of the few blogs that actually doesn't make me feel dumber after reading it :)
• Anonymous
  Saturday, October 25, 2008 at 4:59:00 PM CDT  

  my name is Tom.
  I am Japanease.
  I searach your site by google.
  I cannot use English well.
  so please teach me English.
  
  if you answer me,
  I leave comment surely.

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