Before and After the Fall (Prelapsarian Fun)
I used the word “prelapsarian” (before the fall of man; Edenic times) this week in my Monday Morning Memo. Sure enough, some clown who received the FREE newsletter writes me and tells me that using the word was pretentious. So let’s review:
• I used the word as a metaphor for how long something had been going on: “The prelapsarian goal, from then to now, of any buisness is to have customers.” I find it an apt metaphor is one has any imagination at all.
• I never asked for his feedback, and he managed to ignore all my prior columns on the non-validly of unsolicited feedback.
• I’ve written 64 books, and with all my writing, maybe 20 million words. It’s like a jalopy owner telling me how to drive my exotic cars. He has no standing.
• He never mentioned the content of the column, he was merely fixated on one word! And his lone opinion was all that mattered, as well as the urgency to inform me!
Don’t allow yourself to become a “gotcha” personality, especially when it’s a matter of opinion and not fact. (A few readers always point out typos, which are factual, but so what? I can’t correct them at that point and I’m sure they didn’t distort the message unless the reader is profoundly anal-retentive.) Is your intended feedback helpful? Can it duly correct or improve anything, or are you just playing “second smartest person in the room”? (He’s reading my stuff, I’m not reading his.)
I’m taking the time to recount this only to try to persuade any of you with these tendencies to abandon them. They won’t ingratiate you to anyone, and they’re meaningless—not corrective but mean-spirited.
Don’t send it the clowns,
© Alan Weiss 2016
