"Learning" by looking at what not to do

I really like correct punctuation. It helps clarify one's meaning, and it shows care in writing. I also love humor. So The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks is my kind of web site. You can really only get full value from the posts if you read the author's amusing commentary underneath. The bonus value is that if you read a few of these, you'll find it's a pretty painless way to learn how quotations should not be used. Or should I say "painless"?

Being economical with words

I started writing this post because I ran across a really interesting post in Seth Grodin's blog about using few words to convey an idea. Mr. Grodin started as a marketer but his work has covered a lot of topics, such as web design and company identity. In any event, I was going to start this post with a comment about how poetry uses words economically, so I began searching for definitions of poetry and discovered that lo! here is a topic where different sources don't really agree on the definition. "...language where rhythm is an essential part of the communicative act" is one approach, but how about "writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience" or "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings"? I am curious why there is not more consensus on this definition, but I also find it ironic that poetry tends to use carefully chosen words, often pretty economically, and the definitions for poetry are pretty wordy. But back to Mr. Grodin's point: the attention of one's readers is dear, so words should be carefully chosen to honor the value of the reader's attention.