Say What You Mean

I had some sparring with a co-editor this week, and it brings to mind what one of my academic supervisors taught me (or had hoped to teach me): "If that's what you mean, then why don't you say it!" I wrote an article recently on the scientific method. But where's the added value? asked my co-editor. In other words, I wasn't saying anything. But of course I was saying something, I said: "Kuhn was wrong." (Kuhn was a well known philosopher of science). My co-editor went over to my draft article, and inserted a new first sentence: "Kuhn was wrong." Which takes us back to what my supervisor taught me back then. OBSERVATION: However, a co-editor (or supervisor) may need to tell you that you are saying nothing before you get fired up to tell it it like it is.