Now with more Polysyllabic Nonsense


I think most of you have seen this item making its way around the bloggy world: the blog reading level score. I’ve seen it a bunch of places:

You wanna know what I got?

elementary_school.jpg

(Note that my blog shares this honor with Sassy of eye heart internet, who can even blog at the elementary school level bilingually.)

Actually, the first time I tried this, a few weeks ago maybe, I got junior high level. But apparently my writing skills are deteriorating.

What I find funniest, though, is that I also tried my other blog: The Minsitry of Silly Blogs. This is a blog I threw together on a whim to go along with a NaBloPoMo group I started. See what it scored?

genius.jpg The Ministry of Silly Blogs

It would seem that when I am making efforts to sound Officious and Pretentious, as well as Silly and Pompous, my writing appears more erudite. Even if what I am writing is Utter Nonsense. (Which is not to say that I believe that all those whose blogs scored higher than elementary school write Officiously and Pompously. But perhaps you all write Utter Nonsense?)

All in all, I find myself terribly curious about the means by which a reading level score is achieved. Is it sentence length? Average word length? Does anyone know?

22 thoughts on “Now with more Polysyllabic Nonsense”

  1. It’s a puzzle to me. I also tried it out on my travelblog, which is almost all photos and very little text, and moved up to a High School level.

    I wonder if casa az will score higher after posting the lolphysicists . . .

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  2. Aww, I’m an elementary school blog, too. I looked up some of my older wites, and they did better. I guess my writing skills have been steadily going down the drain without bothering to tell me. *sigh* On the bright side, three cheers for The Ministry of Silly Blogs being so brilliant!

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  5. My site got that score as well. Then I started checking ridiculous sites like Perez Hilton and was appalled that he received a High School score. But I find it totally awesome that the Ministry of Silly Blogs got a Genius score. (same with MSNBC and New York Times)

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  6. I got elementary, also. Which is why I didn’t post it on my blog. I did, however, proudly post the fact that my blog is rated NC-17. I like to call it “irony,” but really, it’s just luck.

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  7. It’s elementary, Watson. I love that you’re so blatantly trying to increase the reading level in this one post alone. Now, of course, I must go check out my own. I wonder what score you get when you don’t write for two full weeks running.

    I am nursing a wounded soul that this was the weekend I might have met you if I could have attended that conference. :(

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  10. Errr. College undergrad. Since I teach college undergrad and regularly read college undergrad I’m kinda appalled. Yikes.

    I think the scoring has to do with sentence length and vocabularly, but also with sentence complexity (clauses and ordering, etc.)

    The results are returned suspiciously fast …

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  16. Wow. You are the genius behind the Ministry of Silly Blogs! I’m so impressed. I found you through Smiler. My post today and the one before it are extremely silly. You gotta check them out. I gave up on both Nano’s before the end. I was too busy blogging. Nice to meet you.

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  18. Hey! Wait a minute! Countr Girl / City Girl got Post Grad and I thought that was the best you could get. There’s a GENIUS level?!?

    I’m going to have to put on my Lord Chancellor of Silly Walks hat (at least I think that’s my Silly title) and bloviate a little more over at CG/CG!

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  19. I rated high school level. I wish I’d rated Genius, only because I like the design and look of the widget. I guess there’s a reader that detects certain words… or maybe it just give ratings randomly? Who knows. It’s silly, that I do know. Is there still time for me to get a title at the ministry? I will myself there next and see.

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  20. az-
    So did teh lolphysicists have an effect?

    Rachelskirts-
    It’s nice to know I’m not the only one on the decline…

    jenny-
    Bad spelers untie! (Not that you misspelled…)

    Anitra-
    I guess there are bunches of us.

    Ashley-
    Funny. I guess you must write for all those over 17s who have been held back in school a lot.

    Sage-
    Oh, was it this weekend then? Curses to those poweres that kept you away from Boston. (And no, even my use of Various Polysyllabic Vocabulary items failed to raise the bar.)

    magpie-
    But I bet you could write with Pomposity if you so chose. (It’s actually kinda fun. At least I find it so.)

    mimi-
    You suggest ways that a reading level should be scored, but I have quite strong suspicions that this wesite isn’t that sophisticated. (And undergrad is naught to be ashamed of.)

    Mad-
    Fair enough.

    painted-
    It must be all the Shakespeare. It’s on a lot of high school reading lists.

    rimarama-
    Let me know how the Mensa business works out for you.

    julie-
    Hurray! Another one of us.

    individual voice-
    Ah, flattery will get you everywhere. And I must compliment you on your own silly posts, which I did check out. Some fine silliness indeed. (Nice to meet you, too!)

    mcewan-
    We are forming a formidable club.

    City Girl-
    Yes, additional bloviation would be appropriate.

    Smiler-
    Yes, there is still time to get a Ministry of Silly Blogs job title. Silliness must continue. (And yes, I like the genius image better, too.)

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