Thursday, March 1, 2012


In reading Ong chapter 5, I came across this little gem of a one-liner "Sight is often deceived, hearing serves as a guarantee," from Ambrose of Milan.  The passage explains how writing used to be used mainly to "recycle knowledge back into the oral world."  The section also explains how the oral tradition was even used in finances--the origin of "auditing."  I think this use of the oral tradition can still be of use today.  For example, one of my favorite ways to edit a paper is to read it aloud.  In this instance, hearing truly serves as "a guarantee" over sight.  Reading a paper aloud makes mistakes glaringly obvious.  Oral pronunciation can also help with flow and punctuation.  You can see if the paper reads naturally, where one should take a natural break and so forth.  Reading a paper silently does not provide the same advantage.  Especially when reading one's own paper, it is very easy to gloss over mistakes because your mind naturally accounts for or fills in what you meant to say.  In this way sight deceives us; but reading a paper out loud guarantees a new chance for understanding and improvement.

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