[gist]

Actually very good reply to my reply. But I think there is another reason PG is this way. He has a math and a programmers brain. As such he would be more likely not to wrap his writing in superfluous wording and he would be more direct in how he makes his point. I am sure many of us have ran into people like this (I know that I have).

> He's always interested in the shortest logical path from A to B. When language is optimized that way, it has a force that can sound like an implicit claim to authority.

Agree which is why someone should take that into account when they write (they don't have to of course they (and PG) can do what they want that makes them happy).

I make money writing. And I do really mean 'make money writing'. I am not an author or a professional writer (what people think that means) but I earn a really good living and I do so by writing. And for the purpose of my comment here it's not important what it is that I do to earn that money. But it's considerable let's say. One thing that I do is always take into account what tone or mood I am trying to achieve to get what it is I want when I write. I don't obviously put the same effort into HN comments as I would when I am writing to make money or if I was writing something that many people would read of any importance (that I might be broadly judged on). So I guess this is my judgement on what PG has written and the way he writes. Fwiw I was not an english major, didn't study philosophy or the classics, didn't do particularly well in English class, didn't know even what you first said about essays either. My point is to me (in order to earn a living) the audience is super important.