worst prose

While the sentence isn’t really an example of bad writing, it has come to be the poster phrase for an annual contest sponsored by San Jose State University’s English Department. The contest is to write the most deliberately awful prose. Past winners include this sentence by Jim Guigli of Carmichael, California:

“Detective Bart Lasiter was in his office studying the light from his one small window falling on his super burrito when the door swung open to reveal a woman whose body said you’ve had your last burrito for a while, whose face said angels did exist, and whose eyes said she could make you dig your own grave and lick the shovel clean.”