3 ms·

Unclear on why this is a good thing. Dumbing down language helps whom, exactly? I guess if you want to hasten the Idiocracy this is your app.

blhack 11y ago
It's a joke. They even explain in the summary that it is a reference to Randall Munroe's book.
SwellJoe 11y ago
Writing so that children, people for whom English is a second language, and people otherwise unable to comprehend advanced writing, can understand you is not a bad thing. I'm considering applying this to my product documentation, even though our users are generally well-educated...we can't afford to have docs translated into a dozen languages, but simple English may be readable by enough foreign language speakers to make it worth the effort. English is a tough language; making it easier for new users of the language is great, IMHO.
- yuncun 11y ago
  Agreed. Some people think that big words are good. Me, I think good writing should be like good code; short and easy to understand.
  - filmgirlcw 11y ago
    Well clarity != short/simple. Which is sort of the joke of the whole book/this idea. It can often take many more words (which just makes an idea more complicated) if you rely on this kind of idea (which yes, I'm aware is a joke) than just using the correct word. It's also very possible to get the gist of a word, based on where it is placed and the words around it -- even if you don't know exactly what it means. (Obviously I'm not suggesting that for something like documentation writing -- but by the same token I would never think that limiting yourself to a 1,000 word dictionary for something as important as product docs would be beneficial in any way).
    - SwellJoe 11y ago
      I strongly suspect there is a happy medium to be found. Maybe more than 1000 most popular words...and maybe just augment a limited dictionary with an addendum for technical terms not in the short dictionary, but that are extremely common for the subject. E.g. in my case, maybe "domain" isn't in the dictionary, but I obviously need it to talk about DNS. I would reasonably expect even foreign language speaking administrators to know this word. So, it's a joke, but maybe a useful thought exercise, too.
thefastlane 11y ago
sorry you have been downvoted. i completely agree with you. i find this to be a truly misguided project. edit: i see that some are saying it's a joke. Poe's Law [0]? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law

blhack 11y ago

It's a joke. They even explain in the summary that it is a reference to Randall Munroe's book.

SwellJoe 11y ago

Writing so that children, people for whom English is a second language, and people otherwise unable to comprehend advanced writing, can understand you is not a bad thing. I'm considering applying this to my product documentation, even though our users are generally well-educated...we can't afford to have docs translated into a dozen languages, but simple English may be readable by enough foreign language speakers to make it worth the effort. English is a tough language; making it easier for new users of the language is great, IMHO.

yuncun 11y ago
Agreed. Some people think that big words are good. Me, I think good writing should be like good code; short and easy to understand.
- filmgirlcw 11y ago
  Well clarity != short/simple. Which is sort of the joke of the whole book/this idea. It can often take many more words (which just makes an idea more complicated) if you rely on this kind of idea (which yes, I'm aware is a joke) than just using the correct word. It's also very possible to get the gist of a word, based on where it is placed and the words around it -- even if you don't know exactly what it means. (Obviously I'm not suggesting that for something like documentation writing -- but by the same token I would never think that limiting yourself to a 1,000 word dictionary for something as important as product docs would be beneficial in any way).
  - SwellJoe 11y ago
    I strongly suspect there is a happy medium to be found. Maybe more than 1000 most popular words...and maybe just augment a limited dictionary with an addendum for technical terms not in the short dictionary, but that are extremely common for the subject. E.g. in my case, maybe "domain" isn't in the dictionary, but I obviously need it to talk about DNS. I would reasonably expect even foreign language speaking administrators to know this word. So, it's a joke, but maybe a useful thought exercise, too.

thefastlane 11y ago

sorry you have been downvoted. i completely agree with you. i find this to be a truly misguided project. edit: i see that some are saying it's a joke. Poe's Law [0]? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law