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> And the whole point of "fancy words" are to succinctly convey some nuance The vast majority of time the point of "fancy words" are for the author to display
by lamontcg 4y ago
> And the whole point of "fancy words" are to succinctly convey some nuance
The vast majority of time the point of "fancy words" are for the author to display to the audience that they know the fancy words.
Unless you really are genuinely talented at language and word choice, it often comes across as a transparent attempt to impress other people and often jars the reader out of the text.
- elmomle 4y agoFor whom is PG writing here? For sharp minds who can be encouraged and eventually trusted to use nuanced words correctly, or for mediocre minds that will never do so? And if the latter, why are we discussing this article?
- lamontcg 4y ago> mediocre minds A lot of the time when people use impressive sounding words they come across exactly this condescending. And lots of smart, sharp people often don't actually like that.
- mikrl 4y agoWhy use a fancy word like bad, terrible, frightful, or vexatious when you can use the easily understood and versatile ungood?
- wyclif 4y agoThat is one of George Orwell's six principles of good writing in "Politics and the English Language", which ever writer should read.
- Beldin 4y ago"Unless you are really very good at writing, it often looks like you're trying to show off. This distracts the reader from what you're writing about." Yeah, we're going to have to agree to disagree here.