The Paper Market is an interview with our good old friend Nick Mamatas, a former term paper writer. He talks about writing term papers a bit more in depth than in his other article, The Term Paper Artist.
Mamatas' definitely has a tone that shows he didn't care about this job. It seems as though he only did it for the money. He continuously bashes the dumb clients with sarcasm or outright harsh comments. His tone make all of his comments that much better for people who catch them.
He wasn't very showy with his vocabulary, which can slightly let us know he's just your average guy. His diction is normal, like everyday people. This shows us he's not super smart or above the rest of us; it just is a sign of how stupid his 'dumb clients' must have been.
When I first read his written article, I expected a little nerdy guy. When I saw his picture, I expected Kevin Smith's voice. Then, finally, when I heard the interview, I was kind of upset. There was no Kevin Smith voice. To be honest, though, hearing him did change my opinion of him. Before, I only saw him as some smart guy who stuck his nose up to everyone with bad grammar. Now I can see he's just like us, an average joe.
The fact that is was audio instead of print is a game changer. In print, you would've missed all of his sarcasm. No one would know that Mamatas liked to screw around just like the rest of us do, or that he couldn't care less about his old job. Print can never really catch the tone of people. I mean, imagine joking with your friend on AIM, "Hey, guess what I did tonight!" "I don't know...what?" "I killed a guy." "...I have to go..." "NO, it was a joke!" Tell me that never happened to you before.
Actually, I never used AIM to confess to a murder that I didn't commit. As far as your other comments, you're spot-on in pointing out the fact that, when it comes to tone, text leaves much to the imagination.
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