The Richly or Poorly Show
Show Transcript
shdawson-20260623.mp3
Episode 06/23/2026
06/23/2026
Hello! Welcome to The Richly or Poorly Show!
My name is Dr. Stephen Dawson, and I am your show host.
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The show's motto is unmistakable: RICHLY IS GOODLY!
Please consider how you define the term good as we journey through life together in your pursuit of defining the term richly in your life.
Last week, I presented a true story from my third-grade learning that is playing out in much of humanity today. The intent of sharing the story with you was to illustrate that you, as a person, and businesses do not have to suffer from the problem I experienced in October 1972. The intended outcome of the episode was to have money going into your pocket faster than you could count the money by empowering you to live your life more richly, both tangibly and intangibly. I share that this topic required several show episodes to take you through the events you were about to experience.
Today, I will expand on a key concept I presented last week: Those who attempt to write in a language they do not understand will be out of work in well less than a decade from today. I shared extensively last week on how the software application of a word processor is going through a decrease in usage, with a simultaneous increase in artificial intelligence features. I focused the listener last week on the harsh reality that using artificial intelligence starts with understanding the words entered into the artificial intelligence, and that preparing those words for entry best occurs in a word processor. I shared last week that there are six distinct benefits of using a word processor by way of a web application. The fifth benefit is the ability to translate text entered in word processing work into another language.
Now, let's consider how well a person needs to understand a language to use a language.
The English language is the most used language in the world, followed second by Chinese. There are various forms of the English and Chinese languages. English is the language used when speaking about any form of money. China dominates the world today in teaching English and teaching finance to transact many forms of money.
Now, consider the Philippines. There are only two primary forms of language in the Philippines. There is Tagalog, used primarily in the northern part of the Philippines. There is Bisaya, used primarily in the southern part of the Philippines. There are just over 1,900 variants of these two languages used in the Philippines. Only Tagalog is taught in public schools in the Philippines. Bisaya is taught by families and communities outside public schools in the Philippines.
I struggled terribly as a child to learn the syntax of the English language. I was taught in 1983, the end of my high school years, a proofreading technique called sentence diagramming, specifically the Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram system that was released in the year 1877 by the educators Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg. This is a wonderful skill to learn how to analyze the construct of a sentence. The message of a sentence becomes quite clear to the proofreader. It took about a month to learn the skill. I literally cried after I learned this skill. I cried because I wish I had been taught this skill earlier by the public school system where I attended primary and secondary schooling.
It was not until I started college full-time in January 1989 that I was able to understand the syntax of a programming language to program computer hardware. I then approached the English language in January 1991 as a computer language. This approach was where I took words that were things and separated them from the actions involved with things. Things are nouns, and actions are verbs. The rest of the grammar constructs, such as adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and articles, then fit into my understanding of grammar syntax for the English language.
I then went through about a decade of being berated by my employers, who were lifelong writers of the English language from a fictional perspective of writing. Oddly, I was doing business writing, and they managed business units. The clash on how to approach the work was horrendous. I was approaching the work based on inputs, processes, and outputs. They were approaching the work based on the feelings of employees. I ended several of those positions with the frame of mind that a person not trained in business does not belong in a position of managing a business unit.
I then entered a type of technology called content management. I loved the work. The purpose of content management is to run a web site of enormous proportions by reusing as much of the content as possible in various ways to present the content. Think of a ballgame. You watch some of the ballgame before you go to bed. The next morning, you get up to learn the final score of the game. The official source of that score comes from the sports league that regulated the game, but the content of the final score is presented in many ways in many newspapers, radio broadcasts, and web sites. Then, take that same turn of events and apply it to any other topic you prefer. Think technology, medicine, politics, another form of sports, fashion, or a movie as some examples of the topics one could consider when thinking of content management. Running thousands and thousands of computers to both present and archive such information becomes complex quickly. This is content management.
What I learned in content management is that there is content and there is the presentation of the content. Content could be words, a picture, an audio file, a video file, or some data from a database. Formatting the content then is about colors, fonts, lines, where to place those items on a web page, automation of presenting those forms of content, and many other factors that result in a web page for viewing.
Then, consider the workflow of content and presentation. One person writes some words. The words are then matched with a picture produced by another person. The words and pictures are then matched with a nice font and colors to lay out the words and pictures on a web page arranged by another person.
Then, consider overseeing the content and presentation. Workers are doing their respective work, bosses overseeing the workers, investors are putting their money into the companies that have these bosses and workers, and so on, that form a business.
Then, consider the computer permissions of who can access what in all of the computers that run content management software. Then, consider connecting the company that uses content management software with an external company that supplies data from a database, pictures, and other forms of information, which all combine to form what seems to be a simple web page.
So, let's apply content management to the consideration of how well a person needs to understand a language to use a language.
I had the mechanics of spelling and grammar down pretty well by 1999. Spelling, how to spell certain terms in the variants of the English language between the US, UK, and AU forms of the English language. What I did not have was a good way to put spelling and grammar together in a way that people would want to do widespread reading of what I wrote.
I gained access to a book in 2014 about writing style. It was written in 1918. The book is called The Elements of Style. A second author expanded it in 1959. The book is rated as one of the hundred best and most influential nonfiction books in English since 1923.
So, I finally had all of the pieces in my hand that were necessary to write in the English language. I had a sentence diagramming skill for proofreading, and I had a way to handle the grammar by looking at things and then the actions involved with things. Finally, I had a book that helped me understand how to accomplish a writing style, so my entire writing would be understood by a reader in a way that they would want to read it, understand it, and want more of it.
It breaks my heart to think of how much time and effort I expended to gain what I received between 1983 and 2014. 31 years is simply more time than it should have taken for anyone to gain such an ability. The 31 years were not due to an absence of either time or effort spent on my part. It was the juggling of learning the different perspectives of the English language. What I did have between 1983 and 2014 was the application of each piece of what I gained over the years to understand, through firsthand experience, what messages resulted in communication and what messages were either not understood or rejected as implausible. These events occurred with people who were logical and illogical, educated and uneducated, and patient and impatient.
I started learning the word processor in January 1991 while in a college course that taught only that specific software. It was a structured learning of the software. The personal computer was less than a decade old at that point. The thinking by many was that computers would do work for us, so people do not need to think anymore. This perspective was not embraced by me. This perspective could not be further from the truth.
Humanity has been through various forms of social networking technologies since the mid-1990s. They all had various messages, but were never designed to accomplish communication. I presented in the June 2nd, 2026, episode about the mechanics of messaging and communication. Humanity at large today, from my humble position, has a good understanding that social networking technologies are not a form of communication.
Humanity today is hoping that artificial intelligence will do what has been sought by many since the beginning of the personal computer. Specifically, computers would do work for us where people do not need to think anymore. This perspective has not been embraced by me. This perspective could not be further from the truth.
The reason I presented last week to my intended audience on the word processor as a web application is that the word processor is the way to maintain your form of income and having money going into your pocket faster than you can count the money. The word processor is the direct connection to the artificial intelligence technology. The word processor is the way to both capture and structure thoughts to handle spelling and grammar matters. The word processor does not handle writing style. The artificial intelligence technology could help with writing style, but never entirely.
So, here is my suggestion to you: Realize with all of the clarity, with all of the certainty, and all of the absoluteness you can muster that the word processor is one of the most important technologies you will ever have available to you.
You now have a path presented to you today for you to have spelling, grammar, writing style, and artificial intelligence mastered by you in less than the 31 years it took me to get my hands on and my mind around these four topics. Granted, the AI part of what I just shared with you is somewhat on the new side. Regardless, I doubt I would have been able to be as successful as I have been with artificial intelligence without first having a firm grasp on spelling, grammar, and writing styles.
I suggest to you that you use the word processor as a web application, as I presented last week. I further suggest you seek out and purchase the book The Elements of Style. I foresee you will laugh when you see how small the book is in terms of page count, as I laughed when I saw it. Hint, it is a read of just under two hours from cover to cover. Finally, I suggest you leave the artificial intelligence features of the word processor alone until you have a solid handle on the grammar rules of the language you chose to use in your writing.
The question of how well a person needs to understand a language to use a language has been answered today. Specifically, well enough to have zero errors in your work for both spelling and grammar, along with enough understanding of a writing style so your writing would be understood by a reader in a way that they would want to read it, understand it, and want more of it. Otherwise, there is no way to prove a person can use a language.
Simply put: There is no way to compete with artificial intelligence without being able to spell correctly, assemble words as required by the syntax of the grammar correctly, and do both in a style of writing.
I leave you with encouragement that I have worked for over half a century with many people in many cultures with many levels of education, holding many forms of wealth. I have seen all of them do both well and poorly with using a language. It is not about skin color, ethnicity, nationality, education, or money. It is all about the choice to use a language to communicate by way of messaging. Otherwise, all that is produced is a waste of time and effort. No waste of time or effort will ever result in maintaining your form of income and having money going into your pocket faster than you can count the money.
It is what it is.
Next week, I will present how to achieve the condition known as communication based on your efforts to message with your intended receiver. Please note, communication is not that hard to accomplish in life.
Well, that's it for today.
RICHLY IS GOODLY!
Thank you for joining me for this episode of The Richly or Poorly Show!
I have enjoyed presenting to you today.
Until the next episode, I hope you will be safe and join me next week.
Until then.
© 2026 SH Dawson. All rights reserved.