On Fri, 11 Jul 2008, Doug Henwood wrote:
> Why do Americans write so badly?
Because writing well advances few interests and garners relatively little praise. Compared to say singing and playing music well, or playing sports well.
Countries that write well have a feuilleton culture where written wit and style can make you a star. We have a pundit culture.
And FBOW, when we talk about writing, we tend to focus on facts rather than style. So we've evolved a (non)style of writing that suits that primary focus of attention.
It could be yet another legacy of never having had an aristocracy to pass on its memes.
Michael