tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-520807396714463309.post5558608415639342979..comments2024-02-12T02:22:30.561-05:00Comments on The Lousy Linguist: how to spot an academic con artistChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09558846279006287148noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-520807396714463309.post-55957406959254554192010-12-02T14:11:45.139-05:002010-12-02T14:11:45.139-05:00Mathew, yep, I'm also a lousy speller, hehe.
...Mathew, yep, I'm also a lousy speller, hehe.<br /><br />Lynn, of course you are right, and I respect people who use their expertise to compete in the free market. I'm a capitalist pig at heart, hehe. But when people use their credentials to sell an inferior product, it irks me (like doctors who promote supplements and exercise equipment on late night TV infomercials).Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09558846279006287148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-520807396714463309.post-45184797547936095302010-12-02T12:48:07.799-05:002010-12-02T12:48:07.799-05:00I think you're right to be suspicious when you...I think you're right to be suspicious when you see such signs, but...<br /><br />There are lots of PhDs out there trying to carve out non-university-based careers that don't involve cab-driving. And when interacting with the non-academic public, the PhD designation can be helpful (I use it on my blog-related email account, but not on my university-related one). <br /><br />I'm thinking of a friend who's making a career (out of necessity as much as choice) as a consultant in cognitive psychology. She works on funded research projects at a couple of universities (but is faculty at neither), provides product/marketing-testing services for certain kinds of manufacturers, does public speaking engagements on things that are interesting to the general public. She's essentially an academic without an academy, doing both the research and teaching aspects of the job. And she is an excellent researcher, thinker, teacher, etc.--so not to be automatically dismissed, I'd hope!<br /><br />Myself, I'm most suspicious of people with self-published books from vanity presses (or near-vanity ones). But you need to know a fair bit about academic publishing to identify them. Oh, and non-linguists commenting on language. :)lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-520807396714463309.post-89180980878494925632010-12-02T12:27:14.947-05:002010-12-02T12:27:14.947-05:00If you are going to write an article criticizing t...If you are going to write an article criticizing the professionalism of another article writer's public facade, for God's sake, run a spelling check.Matthew Sullivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01911773959629894667noreply@blogger.com