Who's Writing This? Does It Matter?

A few days ago, my wife helped me install a little thesaurus app that works inside Google Chrome-- so that I can simply right-click on a word and it will give me several (various?) synonyms for any word that I type . . . and I am wondering if this makes my writing more Dave-like . . . because I won't settle for an ersatz (artificial?) word and instead I'll find the exact (precise?) word that my consciousness is searching (grasping?) for-- in other words, the thesaurus will be a cognitive tool that will allow me finer-grained, more nuanced access to my thoughts, treating my readers to the most Dave-like experience possible; on the other hand, there is the possibility that right-clicking on all these words is going to make my writing half-Dave/half-Cyborg . . . if the little app plants suggestions in my brain that wouldn't have come up otherwise, then you'll actually be reading a collaboration between Dave and a computer . . . either way, there's one thing that's certain: it's still going to be a bunch of tangential drivel.

3 comments:

zman said...

Do not be scammed by ersatz sentences.

Dave said...

i've been on vacation for the last two years-- and the robot is doing a fine job writing ersatz sentences.

Clarence said...

It will be less Dave and more the people who write for Google. Frankly, I am always much more entertained when you struggle for the right word and end up using something dopey and dumb-sounding. Stop cheating.

A New Sentence Every Day, Hand Crafted from the Finest Corinthian Leather.