Boyfriend wanted to see how I write so I showed him a paper, he responds like this?

[driventodistractionk]

Boyfriend wanted to see my personal writing style, showed him a paper from Uni that I told him I got a really good mark in and he said "Seems pretty comprehensive" with a smiley face.

I feel like I was expecting a bit better of a compliment.

He's very complimentary otherwise.

Seriously?

What did you want him to say?

Is he a university lecturer? Why is he interested in your writing style rather than the content of the essay?

Why did he want to see your writing style? Is he going to use the paper himself for something and pass it off as his?

Or does he mean 'comprehensive' as 'way less scary than I thought it would be / was building it up in my mind'? Covers all bases? What was his context?

@HollowTalk he's at University himself. He just wanted to see it, claims everyone's writing style is different and personal.

This whole conversation seems bazaar. Could you put a bit more context in?

Like who is he to want to know your writing style?

He didn't want to see any specific paper, just anything that I've written.

@aussiebean sorry, what do you mean? I think as he personally loves writing and he just wanted to see something I've written for example.

The work is made up of all sorts and this is new for me.

It sounded complimentary to me.

World

Sounds alright to me.

Is he studying linguistics or something along those lines?

If he's looking at style rather than content and the subject isn't necessarily his thing I'm not sure what else he could say.

Maybe he didn't understand it or wasn't interested in the subject matter. Perhaps he simply didn't agree it was good, as he is entitled to do. I don't think it's ever a good idea to expect a compliment as it does set one up for failure. I also think you can hardly expect anyone to be that excited about a piece of old uni work in your chosen subject matter, unless they have a very strong personal interest. It was marked well and served its purpose at the time and that's really all it needed to do. Whether he agrees or not means very little in that respect.

I don't know OP, does it matter? If things are otherwise good. It seems a slightly strange activity. How long ago did you write it? How did this even come up?

I wouldn't even recall half the stuff I wrote at uni and did very well, I might have my dissertation in a box somewhere but that is probably it. If I were seeking an insight into someones personal writing style I don't think one of their past academic essays would really offer that, nor would it be what I meant. Academic writing is fairly contrived in the sense that there are specifics you will need to adhere to (or avoid) in order to box tick to obtain a strong pass mark. A strongly constructed essay or dissertation is not the same as a 'good' piece of personal writing or prose.

He thinks undergraduates' essays have different and personal styles? Ah bless. Lol.
Ten to one, he's hasn't been complimented on his 'personal' style and is now trying to prove a point to himself that he is actual a maverick with his own flare. Instead he's now realised that his personal style is exactly the same as everyone else's, yours included, and he's not the unique academic writing genius that he thought he was.

• he hasn't been complimented...

@thingsdogetbetter hahaha, love this. Thank you!

He said that because he didn't want to read a full paper. I don't know what you were expecting. I would drop it...

Erm, he's a university, wants to see different styles of writing the possibly improve his own style and give him ideas.

Do you usually think this deeply about such simplistic things?

I feel like I was expecting a bit better of a compliment.

I'd guess he doesn't know enough about the subject - or about writing - to give more detailed praise. Plus your motivations clashed. You wanted him to read it and praise you. He wanted to ... steal your style, reassure himself about his style, pretend he was a creative genius who can understand your very essence through your use of semi-colons

Is he into Graphology, the study of handwriting to reveal personality?

@Thingsdogetbetter

He thinks undergraduates' essays have different and personal styles? Ah bless. Lol. Ten to one, he's hasn't been complimented on his 'personal' style and is now trying to prove a point to himself that he is actual a maverick with his own flare. Instead he's now realised that his personal style is exactly the same as everyone else's, yours included, and he's not the unique academic writing genius that he thought he was.

Everyone DOES have a different writing style, though. Just like how some people can tell a prolific poster on here even when NC because of their syntax, their word choices, paragraph lengths, etc. Doesn't make anyone a "unique academic writing genius"...

And some people's grammar isn't great.

He probably didn't read it.

He thinks undergraduates' essays have different and personal styles? Ah bless. Lol.

Sometimes they do, but if a style is distinctive enough to be recognisable to the marker, it's often not in a good way. There's one student I taught over a decade ago who I could still spot in one sentence if he submitted an essay now. He was very proud of his prose but really shouldn't have been.

This is hilarious! Bless him that he thinks academic writing shows a 'style'

Your true writing style prob shows up better on Whatsapp.

There's some batshit threads on here recently!