3 ms·

You're confusing simple and easy.

by lgas 3y ago

lelanthran 3y ago
For the rare occasion when the author doesn't mean easy when they say simple, they should probably clarify that they mean non complex and difficult.
- kragen 3y ago
  words have different meanings; the root sense of 'simple' is 'one-fold', that is, only having one layer rather than two or four, and that sense is still present in phrases like the spanish hoja simple, meaning 'one-ply' (toilet paper, for example), but it's had multiple meanings for thousands of years including 'mentally disabled', 'honest', 'harmless', 'pure', 'unadorned', and, as you point out, 'easy' it's true that using a word with multiple meanings gives rise to ambiguity, and avoiding that by choosing a different word is desirable unfortunately there isn't a better term for 'simple' in the sense of 'not possessed of much detail' or 'composed of very few parts'; saying 'non complex' doesn't really help because 'complex' is often used to mean 'difficult' for the same reason 'simple' is often used to mean 'easy' except in hucksters' advertising brochures, i don't agree with your implicit assertion that all the polysemic complexity of 'simple' is merely historical, leaving only 'easy' as a live meaning; i think all the meanings i listed above except for 'harmless' have some currency today, even merely in english https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/simple#Adjective https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/simple#Adjective lists nine main meanings of which seven are current, though i admit i just added the 'easy' one myself; it wasn't listed previously (i think because of confusion induced by the polysemy of 'complicated')
  - couchand 3y ago
    I do sometimes think there are other words that might be more appropriate for the context: parsimony or consistency are related concepts that could be more precise. But there are some things that are just simple, like a Bankers Box.
    - kragen 3y ago
      'parsimonious' is a pretty decent word here we could try defining a new word for specifically this sense of 'simple'. for example, 'fivous', 'blorsy', 'bonatchy', 'jatomurous', or 'wislous'. the problem is that if the word gets adopted, it's likely to undergo the same sense shifts as its synonym 'simple'
  - lelanthran 3y ago
    > except in hucksters' advertising brochures, i don't agree with your implicit assertion that all the polysemic complexity of 'simple' is merely historical, leaving only 'easy' as a live meaning; i think all the meanings i listed above except for 'harmless' have some currency today, even merely in english Look at this comment thread and count all the instances where people are complaining that 'simple' is being used to describe difficult things: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35759449 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35759449 I'm not the only one who thinks that 'simple' should mean, in technical docs, 'easy'.
    - kragen 3y ago
      git gud
stcg 3y ago
Related: the great and timeless talk called "Simplicity Matters" by Rich Hickey - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI8tNMsozo0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI8tNMsozo0 (By the way, any talk by Rich Hickey is worth watching)

You're confusing simple and easy.

by lgas 3y ago

You're confusing simple and easy.

For the rare occasion when the author doesn't mean easy when they say simple, they should probably clarify that they mean non complex and difficult.

kragen 3y ago
words have different meanings; the root sense of 'simple' is 'one-fold', that is, only having one layer rather than two or four, and that sense is still present in phrases like the spanish hoja simple, meaning 'one-ply' (toilet paper, for example), but it's had multiple meanings for thousands of years including 'mentally disabled', 'honest', 'harmless', 'pure', 'unadorned', and, as you point out, 'easy' it's true that using a word with multiple meanings gives rise to ambiguity, and avoiding that by choosing a different word is desirable unfortunately there isn't a better term for 'simple' in the sense of 'not possessed of much detail' or 'composed of very few parts'; saying 'non complex' doesn't really help because 'complex' is often used to mean 'difficult' for the same reason 'simple' is often used to mean 'easy' except in hucksters' advertising brochures, i don't agree with your implicit assertion that all the polysemic complexity of 'simple' is merely historical, leaving only 'easy' as a live meaning; i think all the meanings i listed above except for 'harmless' have some currency today, even merely in english https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/simple#Adjective https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/simple#Adjective lists nine main meanings of which seven are current, though i admit i just added the 'easy' one myself; it wasn't listed previously (i think because of confusion induced by the polysemy of 'complicated')
- couchand 3y ago
  I do sometimes think there are other words that might be more appropriate for the context: parsimony or consistency are related concepts that could be more precise. But there are some things that are just simple, like a Bankers Box.
  - kragen 3y ago
    'parsimonious' is a pretty decent word here we could try defining a new word for specifically this sense of 'simple'. for example, 'fivous', 'blorsy', 'bonatchy', 'jatomurous', or 'wislous'. the problem is that if the word gets adopted, it's likely to undergo the same sense shifts as its synonym 'simple'
- lelanthran 3y ago
  > except in hucksters' advertising brochures, i don't agree with your implicit assertion that all the polysemic complexity of 'simple' is merely historical, leaving only 'easy' as a live meaning; i think all the meanings i listed above except for 'harmless' have some currency today, even merely in english Look at this comment thread and count all the instances where people are complaining that 'simple' is being used to describe difficult things: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35759449 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35759449 I'm not the only one who thinks that 'simple' should mean, in technical docs, 'easy'.
  - kragen 3y ago
    git gud

stcg 3y ago

Related: the great and timeless talk called "Simplicity Matters" by Rich Hickey - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI8tNMsozo0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI8tNMsozo0 (By the way, any talk by Rich Hickey is worth watching)