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Arnold 2
11-3-2010
By: Trevan J. Hannahs
A national proponent of media writing said Tuesday to a Marshall University Journalism class each person has a different vocabulary and you must be able speak to your audience.
George T. Arnold, former journalism and mass communications professor of Marshall University, gave words of wisdom about the language journalist use.
“You think about your audience. If you say, hey, I know pneumoconiosis, I’m just going to throw that out there and everybody see how smart I am, you have not communicated. People don’t know what you are talking about. You have wasted your time,” said Arnold.
Arnold is in the process of writing the newest edition to his Media Writers Handbook, “I Don’t Sound Like a Vice President,” because Arnold said how journalists today are writing with pretentious language, trite expressions and jargon. Arnold then showed students how to avoid these things and create an effective news piece.
Arnold said one of the most pretentious language mistakes occurs in country music.
“ I hate to watch the ‘Tonight Show’ and a country musician comes out there in ratty looking overalls and refers to themselves as an artist. You’re a singer, why do you have to call yourself an artist?”
In terms of writing and everyday life, Arnold is known for being grammatically correct. Putting proper apostrophes in signs he sees, and correcting someone under his breath if they say something grammatically incorrect, is why he said he is a nuisance to many colleagues, family members and friends. Whether it’s lie down instead of lay down or I could not care less instead of I could care less, are the few examples he used misused in the language each day.
Arnold said it’s a way to have fun with the language.
Arnold also said Tuesday not to heap praises at people unless they deserve it, use the inverted pyramid and learn to write with flair. He said if you take those points and apply them to your writing, you can have a successful career.
Arnold joined the Marshall University Faculty in 1968 and has since retired. He is author of the “Media Writers Handbook: A Guide to Common Writing and Editing Problems,” published in 1996. Arnold is the recipient of many awards including:
Marshall and Shirley Reynolds Outstanding Teacher Award in 1987, a runner-up for Professor of the Year by the Faculty Merritt Foundation of West Virginia, Inc. In 1994, inducted into the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism Hall of Fame, and also a member of Woodrow Wilson High School Hall of Fame along with the West Virginia High School Journalism Teachers Hall of Fame. He was named as one the nation’s Outstanding Campus Chapter Advisers by the Society of Professional Journalists in 1990, according to the Marshall Magazine (2003).
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