So, I’m sitting here, typing away on a piece for a client. And I realize that someone is staring at me – under the guise of the green underlines sprinkled about the page. Typically, I prefer the red underlines because (in my program, Pages for iWork) they tell me that something is definitively wrong, that a word is actually misspelled for god’s sake!
But, the green underlines? They usually just piss me off. The green lines are very judgmental. They say things like, ‘That word is too high-brow for the piece you’re writing. Try again.’ Okay, that’s not verbatim, but it is their point. To which I respond, Shhhh, leave me alone! I’m writing here and you’re just a piece of software, sheessh. How do you know who my audience is?
Today, though, the green lines shocked me. They gave me good advice, for instance, telling me when I had way too many words, when just one would suffice and informing me that I’d picked a term that was decidedly ‘overused and common.’ Well, I never.
It’s kind of like having a fairy godmother whispering hints to you as you write. Telling you that you can’t use that word as surely as she’d tell you that you can’t wear white after Labor Day. And like any decent mother, sometimes annoying you, sometimes reminding you that you don’t, in fact, know everything, always wanting to help and always all up in your business.
Image credit: Maia C