t byfield wrote:
> the stylistics are complete-
> ly inexcusable,
If we are going to quibble about style it is best not to make errors of diction. "Stylistics" is a special sub-division of literary studies (one which some literary theorists deny the possibility of, while others claim it makes up the whole of literary studies). What you are talking about is *style*. The inaccourate insertion of a technical term when an ordinary term would do is, I suppose, what you are complaining about in current academic style.
Incidentally, to cure yourself of nostalgia (a vicious ailment) I recommend 10 Bob Greene columns a week. (He writes 3 each week in the Chicago Tribune. You will have to delve into old columns.) After about 6 months you will be cured forever of the illness of *laudatores temporis acti*. (I don't remember the singular of either noun or of the participle so I have to use the plural form I've seen more often.)
Carrol