photo via lauren-p-m via Rising Tensions
Day: June 30, 2013
top 10 reasons why "top 10 reasons" fails as a rhetorical strategy
1. Your best reason is number 1 (or 10 if you do it Letterman-style)
2. After that you start straining for reasons
3. By 3 no one is smiling
4. Everyone got your point in number 1
5. Most people aren't clever enough writers to keep readers engaged through 10 reasons
6. You repeat yourself
7. You repeat yourself again
8. Now you only need two more reasons to pad this out to 10
9. Readers perk up for the home stretch
10. You're done -- no one read this far
Juan Cole, you're great, but please stop doing top 10s