Really? I would have used the word “didactic” perhaps.

You see, I was just trying to help your friend by giving her a shock: you and I both know that her stuff is almost unreadable because it’s so academic and clotted. It doesn’t have to be that way: there are lots of tips I gave for improving the style a lot. She has interesting ideas but they’re sabotaged by the language — I want to help her express herself better. That can involve a certain amount of pain.

I know that because I’ve been writing for decades, books, articles, you name it. It’s hard to write well and the one thing no writer wants is some interfering bugger telling them how to write better.

It’s the one thing we all need.

What we don’t need is people wrapping us up in cotton wool so we never learn to sharpen our style.

It’s OK. I won’t bother again.