How bright are our readers?

[Comshaw]

I'm the other way around. I quit high school and don't have much in the way of formal education. But I didn't quit for lack of grades, I quit before I was expelled for fighting and before I really hurt someone. I'm well read, enjoy learning new things and despite the fact I tend to speak in the inner city manner was raised in "I don't got nothin'" I have an extensive vocabulary.

I like to get around people who think their superior, who toss around their word of the day calendar vocab, try and sound pretentious and think they're talking over my head. I lead them along, let them keep going, then pretty much make them look like fools.

My wife hates that I call myself a drop out and get people to underestimate me, but I think its a fun game. We went to one of her toastmasters dinners where a guy was going on and on like he's the smartest guy in the room about everything, then started in on philosophy, and someone asked him a question which he didn't answer correctly, and knew it, he was just saying it so confidently they assumed he knew.

My wife said just before I opened my mouth she swore she heard the sound of a steel trap snapping shut.

Never judge the book by its cover, in any way. People who use big words aren't always that bright, people who don't feel the need to flex their intellect all the time are no where near as simple as they put themselves out to be.

I figured you for one of those...one of us. Most kids don't drop out for lack of intelligence, it usually comes from other directions. In my case, I was a straight A student, but my grandmother who raised me and my siblings died and the family fell apart. My siblings were shipped off to live with relatives. I opted to go out on my own. Between the partying, raising hell and making a living I didn't have time for school, so it went by the wayside. When I got drafted, I did get my GED in Army Basic training (they didn't give us a choice). Later, after I got back from Southeast Asia I discovered that my GED scores were high enough my state would convert the certificate to an actual High School diploma, so in a back handed, round about way I did graduate. I took some college classes with the intent of getting my AA, but never finished. Life got in the way. I did get my Fleet Manager Certification, which toke two years of work. Like LC, most of what I know is self-taught: reading, trying, falling, getting up and doing it again until I get it right.

I too, tend to let people underestimate me. I don't do it just to get a dig in at those who have an ego so big they can barely carry it. While I have done that in the past, I try not to do it out of malice or the enjoyment of embarrassing others, but only as a byproduct of other interactions. I have found it to be a tactical advantage and it has served me well over the years.

I was on the negotiating team for our union local for many years, as well as a shop steward. When my boss offered me the Job of Fleet Manager (the first one they had ever hired without a college degree) and I took it, the guys in the union were pissed, because they didn't want to lose me. I figured I could do more for everyone (including them) in the Manager position. I did. I hate to sound like I'm bragging (Okay, I guess I am) when I retired my boss told me they had never had a better FM and over half of the 350 employees that worked for the city stopped by my retirement dinner to wish me well.

It's not that I can't be abrasive. Back in my drinking days, I could be a total ass. My wife and I were at a dinner hosted by the preschool my kids were in at the time. We were seated next to an exchange high school teacher from Britain. He kept making snide remarks about the type of people he had met while here, so I decided to tell him a joke. Keep in mind my last name is Irish.

"500 Irishmen went from Ireland to England and the overall intelligence of the population went up 50%."

Most of those at the table heard it, and you could have heard a pin drop for the next few seconds. My wife made an excuse and drug me out of there. I also got a skin pealing dressing down from her on the way home, with a few days of the cold shoulder for being, as she put it, "an ass!". Later when I was sober I felt conflicted: embarrassed for embarrassing her, and smugly satisfied for taking the asshole down a peg or two.

Anyway, I've gotten off on a tangent and am beginning to ramble. Getting educated isn't a matter of sitting in a classroom reading a book and listening to someone talk. Being educated does not require a piece of paper on the wall declaring that you are. It can come from many directions. It may take a self-taught individual longer to get it down, but they end with the same knowledge as anyone else. Being educated and being intelligent, while being associated, are two separate and distinct things.

Comshaw

 

[lovecraft68]

I figured you for one of those...one of us. Most kids don't drop out for lack of intelligence, it usually comes from other directions. In my case, I was a straight A student, but my grandmother who raised me and my siblings died and the family fell apart. My siblings were shipped off to live with relatives. I opted to go out on my own. Between the partying, raising hell and making a living I didn't have time for school, so it went by the wayside. When I got drafted, I did get my GED in Army Basic training (they didn't give us a choice). Later, after I got back from Southeast Asia I discovered that my GED scores were high enough my state would convert the certificate to an actual High School diploma, so in a back handed, round about way I did graduate. I took some college classes with the intent of getting my AA, but never finished. Life got in the way. I did get my Fleet Manager Certification, which toke two years of work. Like LC, most of what I know is self-taught: reading, trying, falling, getting up and doing it again until I get it right.

I too, tend to let people underestimate me. I don't do it just to get a dig in at those who have an ego so big they can barely carry it. While I have done that in the past, I try not to do it out of malice or the enjoyment of embarrassing others, but only as a byproduct of other interactions. I have found it to be a tactical advantage and it has served me well over the years.

I was on the negotiating team for our union local for many years, as well as a shop steward. When my boss offered me the Job of Fleet Manager (the first one they had ever hired without a college degree) and I took it, the guys in the union were pissed, because they didn't want to lose me. I figured I could do more for everyone (including them) in the Manager position. I did. I hate to sound like I'm bragging (Okay, I guess I am) when I retired my boss told me they had never had a better FM and over half of the 350 employees that worked for the city stopped by my retirement dinner to wish me well.

It's not that I can't be abrasive. Back in my drinking days, I could be a total ass. My wife and I were at a dinner hosted by the preschool my kids were in at the time. We were seated next to an exchange high school teacher from Britain. He kept making snide remarks about the type of people he had met while here, so I decided to tell him a joke. Keep in mind my last name is Irish.

"500 Irishmen went from Ireland to England and the overall intelligence of the population went up 50%."

Most of those at the table heard it, and you could have heard a pin drop for the next few seconds. My wife made an excuse and drug me out of there. I also got a skin pealing dressing down from her on the way home, with a few days of the cold shoulder for being, as she put it, "an ass!". Later when I was sober I felt conflicted: embarrassed for embarrassing her, and smugly satisfied for taking the asshole down a peg or two.

Anyway, I've gotten off on a tangent and am beginning to ramble. Getting educated isn't a matter of sitting in a classroom reading a book and listening to someone talk. Being educated does not require a piece of paper on the wall declaring that you are. It can come from many directions. It may take a self-taught individual longer to get it down, but they end with the same knowledge as anyone else. Being educated and being intelligent, while being associated, are two separate and distinct things.

Comshaw

As many here can figure, I can be a total shit. Being older now I have more of a filter and am able to not take everything personally and just let shit slide. However, here and there I backslide.

To reply with a story of my own. My wife, as mentioned is in Toastmasters, a club for public speakers, and many people there are professional and well educated. So these dinners I'd get dragged to were not my thing, first off needing to drop the street slang, not say anything snarky, go easy on the drinking to avoid those, and most of all, not bite on the terminally pretentious of which there were usually a couple.

One such dinner, there's a dozen of us at the table and one guy is just out of control with his opinions and his bragging and he was getting to the point he was being offensive and made a few not so kind remarks about 'women and their place" while sitting among several very successful and educated women mind you, but he had cool story bro moment after cool story bro moment.

He ends up making a comment about a woman in the club-but not there-that if she dropped a few pounds it could help her career, then goes on about he knows all about self esteem and body image issues in women. I'd had a few drinks and finally couldn't take it, and declared, and loudly.

"Know what I know? The ones who talk the most do the least and motherfucker you haven't shut up all night." into the sielnce that followed I added. "And who are you to talk about anyone? Last time I saw a nose like that was on a box of Fruit Loops"

A few more seconds of silence before one woman started laughing then most around the table joined in while he stammered something no one was listening to. My wife looks around, sighs and says "That's right, that's all mine right there."

One of those technically not your best moment, but....yeah, kind of was a good moment.

 

[R. Richard]

The purest form of English is that used by the Cockneys. So, I find meself setting my German to writing work, while I fuel with a raging.

 

[AlexBailey]

As many here can figure, I can be a total shit. Being older now I have more of a filter and am able to not take everything personally and just let shit slide. However, here and there I backslide.

To reply with a story of my own. My wife, as mentioned is in Toastmasters, a club for public speakers, and many people there are professional and well educated. So these dinners I'd get dragged to were not my thing, first off needing to drop the street slang, not say anything snarky, go easy on the drinking to avoid those, and most of all, not bite on the terminally pretentious of which there were usually a couple.

One such dinner, there's a dozen of us at the table and one guy is just out of control with his opinions and his bragging and he was getting to the point he was being offensive and made a few not so kind remarks about 'women and their place" while sitting among several very successful and educated women mind you, but he had cool story bro moment after cool story bro moment.

He ends up making a comment about a woman in the club-but not there-that if she dropped a few pounds it could help her career, then goes on about he knows all about self esteem and body image issues in women. I'd had a few drinks and finally couldn't take it, and declared, and loudly.

"Know what I know? The ones who talk the most do the least and motherfucker you haven't shut up all night." into the sielnce that followed I added. "And who are you to talk about anyone? Last time I saw a nose like that was on a box of Fruit Loops"

A few more seconds of silence before one woman started laughing then most around the table joined in while he stammered something no one was listening to. My wife looks around, sighs and says "That's right, that's all mine right there."

One of those technically not your best moment, but....yeah, kind of was a good moment.

It sound like you met my step father.

 

[ChloeTzang]

How bright are our readers? Well, a wide range, in my experience. I email and chat with quite a few of my readers, mostly on Facebook, and I'm constantly surprised. Facebook's great like that, because you can take a look at the "real" person, not just a userid and whatever they write to you in a Literotica pm. I have some really interesting readers from wide range of backgrounds,and its actually rather useful because when I ask backgroun questions, I get some really useful information.

 

[SimonDoom]

You can't generalize about Literotica readers, because they are a huge group and their "brightness" -- or lack of it -- runs the gamut of possibilities.

Write for the reader that you want to appeal to.

 

[TxRad]

How bright are our readers?

It all depends on how little or how much you polish them.

That polish depends on the story, the point of the story, and how well the reader grasps the points.

Maybe the question should be, how many failed readers come from failed writing.

 

[nicechat]

I like to think those reading my stories are more than merely literate. I'll use, for instance, words like 'susurration' when they are the best choice, not for effect but because they are the best choice for expressing what's happening. In one sense that's a compliment to the reader, yet I suppose it can also be a challenge.

I'm now working on a story in which two people in a threesome arrange a mirror by the bed so the third person can better see what's happening. The proper term for the mirror I have in mind is a 'cheval mirror'. I'm tempted to simply call it that rather than plod through something like 'a free-standing, full-length, swiveling floor mirror'. The details matter a bit as many floor mirrors simply stand there and cannot be adjusted in any way, which would defeat the intended purpose.

So, back to the original question. When you are writing, what assumptions do you make about your readers? How educated, how literate, how accepting do you see them?
https://secure.img1-fg.wfcdn.com/im/71668557/resize-h445%5Ecompr-r85/1028/102841469/Bethzy+Traditional+Cheval+Mirror.jpg

If you concern yourself with this you'll lose flow and creativity

 

[KeithD]

If you concern yourself with this you'll lose flow and creativity

I agree. I mainly write at whatever level I choose (normally my normal one but sometimes I ratchet it down for the needs of the story/narrator). I let the readers worry about their reading level. In a site this large, the range of levels would be all over the place.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Spell susurration or cheval wrong and you'll discover just how bright your readers are.

 

[lovecraft68]

I think we should do the opposite....how bright are Literotica authors?
Using this forum as a barometer....well.....

 

[PlanetaryNebula]

I like to think those reading my stories are more than merely literate. I'll use, for instance, words like 'susurration' when they are the best choice, not for effect but because they are the best choice for expressing what's happening. In one sense that's a compliment to the reader, yet I suppose it can also be a challenge.

I'm now working on a story in which two people in a threesome arrange a mirror by the bed so the third person can better see what's happening. The proper term for the mirror I have in mind is a 'cheval mirror'. I'm tempted to simply call it that rather than plod through something like 'a free-standing, full-length, swiveling floor mirror'. The details matter a bit as many floor mirrors simply stand there and cannot be adjusted in any way, which would defeat the intended purpose.

So, back to the original question. When you are writing, what assumptions do you make about your readers? How educated, how literate, how accepting do you see them?
https://secure.img1-fg.wfcdn.com/im/71668557/resize-h445%5Ecompr-r85/1028/102841469/Bethzy+Traditional+Cheval+Mirror.jpg

Just a humble reader here… but I say, don’t “dumb it down”. One of the benefits of online reading is if you come across a word you don’t know, you can just highlight it and look it up!!!! Better learning through reading smut? Sign me up. Hope this helps

 

[Comshaw]

I think we should do the opposite....how bright are Literotica authors?
Using this forum as a barometer....well.....

I are smart! I are a author!

Comshaw

 

[oggbashan]

I think we should do the opposite....how bright are Literotica authors?
Using this forum as a barometer....well.....

Most of us can write sentences that make sense. That places us in a small minority of 'bright' people.

 

[lovecraft68]

Most of us can write sentences that make sense. That places us in a small minority of 'bright' people.

My favorite comments are the ones that tell me my grammar sucks or I don't know how to write, that are littered with typos.
Delicious irony.