2 ms·

Most of the "amusing" examples in the linked seem to me to be pretty legitimate attempts at being precise. Yeah, the definition of hot food seems nitpicky but i

by pydry 4y ago

Most of the "amusing" examples in the linked seem to me to be pretty legitimate attempts at being precise. Yeah, the definition of hot food seems nitpicky but it kind of has to be nitpicky for their purposes of enforcing the rules (dumb rules maybe, but they didn't pick the rules). The advice against using the phrase "combat problems" or even "key stakeholders" instead of just "stakeholders" seems somewhat pointless to me. I don't think these are changes that will significantly improve reader comprehension. Maybe avoiding the use of the word "stakeholder" at all will but they dont seem to want to go that far.

ohbtvz 4y ago
Using fewer words introduces less cognitive load and drives your point better. For example, you wrote "The advice [...] seems somewhat pointless to me." Well, are you saying that it is pointless, or not? I don't know you, so I don't know what your scale of pointlessness is. I don't know what "somewhat pointless" corresponds to. Is it a tiny bit pointless, is it a medium amount of pointlessness, something else? I don't know, but I have to think about it because you wrote a meaningless word in your sentence. And even once I have understood the sentence, I am left thinking: "well, if it's only somewhat pointless, maybe it's not pointless after all!" The same thing happens with "key stakeholders": now I have to think about a hierarchy of stakeholders. What scale is being used? Who's key, who's non-key? Does the sentence apply to all stakeholders, only some of them? Multiply this by a hundred occurrences in a long document, and you obtain something that will be more difficult to read. But government documents have to be readable by everyone: people whose native tongue is not English, uneducated people who have trouble reading simple texts, etc. And for what? Sugarcoating your text so that it's less assertive? Showing literary prowess?
- pydry 4y ago
  >For example, you wrote "The advice [...] seems somewhat pointless to me." Well, are you saying that it is pointless, or not? I am stating something controversial and leaving open the possibility that I might be wrong or partially wrong. What you are inadvertently arguing here is that humility is unnecessary.
  - ohbtvz 4y ago
    The sentence "seems ... to me" already carries that meaning.

by pydry 4y ago

ohbtvz 4y ago

Using fewer words introduces less cognitive load and drives your point better. For example, you wrote "The advice [...] seems somewhat pointless to me." Well, are you saying that it is pointless, or not? I don't know you, so I don't know what your scale of pointlessness is. I don't know what "somewhat pointless" corresponds to. Is it a tiny bit pointless, is it a medium amount of pointlessness, something else? I don't know, but I have to think about it because you wrote a meaningless word in your sentence. And even once I have understood the sentence, I am left thinking: "well, if it's only somewhat pointless, maybe it's not pointless after all!" The same thing happens with "key stakeholders": now I have to think about a hierarchy of stakeholders. What scale is being used? Who's key, who's non-key? Does the sentence apply to all stakeholders, only some of them? Multiply this by a hundred occurrences in a long document, and you obtain something that will be more difficult to read. But government documents have to be readable by everyone: people whose native tongue is not English, uneducated people who have trouble reading simple texts, etc. And for what? Sugarcoating your text so that it's less assertive? Showing literary prowess?

pydry 4y ago
>For example, you wrote "The advice [...] seems somewhat pointless to me." Well, are you saying that it is pointless, or not? I am stating something controversial and leaving open the possibility that I might be wrong or partially wrong. What you are inadvertently arguing here is that humility is unnecessary.
- ohbtvz 4y ago
  The sentence "seems ... to me" already carries that meaning.