"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:4lbec.13939$rg5.37923@attbi_s52...
All I know is this: People who can speak eloquently cannot necessarily
write well -- even though all they would have to do is write down
PRECISELY
what they just finished saying.

I once had a boss who was the most eloquent guy in the world. He could
speak on any subject, thoughtfully, for hours -- and the words just
naturally came out with proper sentence structure. His thoughts were
clearly organized into logical, progressive paragraphs.

Yet, in writing, he was a blathering idiot -- virtually illiterate. I
still
get one-sentence emails from him, with misspelled words and no structure
at
all. He simply can't translate his thoughts into writing.



Back in my college days, while studying to be a teacher, (NO- all the
dinosaurs were gone by then) one of my techniques of teaching professors, Dr
Bethard, addressed this phenomenon. He believed it has something to do with
the difference in pace between speaking and writing.

Many of us can understand why it possible to write well but speak with less
eloquence. Obviously, one can reread and edit the written, whereas the
words are there NOW!

Dr. Bethard felt that the reason writing was difficult for some "well
spoken" folks was they couldn't get their thoughts "on paper" fast enough,
and the continuity was lost.

Seems to me the Doc has a pretty good theory there.

Gary - who ALWAYS needs editing - Kasten