Jeb Bush's Sketchy Nigerian Business Deals

[LaCroix]

"not that puzzling" is key. you don't want possibly puzzling sentences. you want no puzzling sentences.

Then I assume you never use any pronouns.

you can use pronouns if there's no intervening noun that might muck it up. you always assume the reader is reasonably intelligent.

"tom went to the store with dick, and tom thought he saw jane."

"tom went to the store with jane, and he bought pop while she bought chips."

etc.

MWI and boko are both "it"s, so MWI should have been repeated in the last section. you rewrite sentences to avoid situations where you've repeated someone's name fifty thousand times.

[Admiral Yi]

Who did Tom think saw Jane?

A reasonable person is going to infer that Tom thought Tom saw Jane.  Likewise, a reasonable person is going to infer that MWI had a factory.

[LaCroix]

well, not so fast! a huge consideration is how many words are between the noun and the pronoun.

"tom thought he" has one word in between.

but, "MWI no longer works in Nigeria, in part thanks to the extremist group Boko Haram, which is active in Maiduguri, where its plant was located" has twenty words in between.

the "how many words in between" idea also applies to things like subject-verb, etc.

[Admiral Yi]

Ah, so an attention span argument more than an ambiguity argument.

[LaCroix]

Ah, so an attention span argument more than an ambiguity argument.

i mean, ambiguity depends on how you look at it. a reader that's carried through a long and windy sentence might find a later "it" initially ambiguous without a re-read. but yeah, i meant ambiguity as a result of attention span.

[Siege]

Does the word nigger comes from Nigeria?
Is there a relation?

[Siege]

Also, how many of you jumped at seing the word nigger above?

I know I jump when I see it and scream RACISSSS!!!1111

Just wondering where we are in political correctness...

[Valmy]

Does the word nigger comes from Nigeria?
Is there a relation?

Thought it came from the Latin word for black person. But the majority of American slaves came from there so who knows?

[Valmy]

Also, how many of you jumped at seing the word nigger above?

I am pretty desensitized when I see it online. I cannot even remember the last time somebody said it offline. Damn. Over a decade at least.

[Siege]

Does the word nigger comes from Nigeria?
Is there a relation?

Thought it came from the Latin word for black person. But the majority of American slaves came from there so who knows?

Latin?

Nero? Nah, nero is in Italian, not latin.

[Razgovory]

Does the word nigger comes from Nigeria?
Is there a relation?

No.

[Barrister]

Does the word nigger comes from Nigeria?
Is there a relation?

http://bfy.tw/Lk1

[alfred russel]

Does the word nigger comes from Nigeria?
Is there a relation?

http://bfy.tw/Lk1

And by typing that google on a work computer to help Siege answer his question, BB inadvertently ended any chance of ascending to a high political office.   

[Barrister]

Does the word nigger comes from Nigeria?
Is there a relation?

http://bfy.tw/Lk1

And by typing that google on a work computer to help Siege answer his question, BB inadvertently ended any chance of ascending to a high political office.   

I work in criminal law.

I think the over/under on the number of times I'll say "fuck" in court this afternoon is six. 

All in quotations, of course.

[Barrister]

Does the word nigger comes from Nigeria?
Is there a relation?

http://bfy.tw/Lk1

And by typing that google on a work computer to help Siege answer his question, BB inadvertently ended any chance of ascending to a high political office.   

I work in criminal law.

I think the over/under on the number of times I'll say "fuck" in court this afternoon is six. 

All in quotations, of course.

For those in the betting crowd, you should've taken the Over.