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Interesting read and I like the concept, but I think the 4-letter rule added an arbitrary constraint that didn't necessarily make it easier to read or understan
by nlh 13y ago
Interesting read and I like the concept, but I think the 4-letter rule added an arbitrary constraint that didn't necessarily make it easier to read or understand.
If the idea was "explain relativity simply" then it could have been done better -- word complexity (ie "reading level") is a better measure than outright word length.
If the idea was simply to see if it could be done with 4-letter words, well, mission accomplished :)
- breadbox 13y agoIt was in fact the latter. (I was inspired in part by Douglas Hofstadter, who did something similar on a smaller scale in "Le Ton Beau de Marot".)
- derekp7 13y agoSounds very similar to Guy Steel's "Growing a Language" talk. His constraint was to not use any word greater than one syllable unless it is defined by either one-syllable words, or other words that had been previously defined.
- dpritchett 13y agoThat really is a great talk! It's on Youtube too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ahvzDzKdB0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ahvzDzKdB0
- daviddaviddavid 13y agoWow. I was sure this was inspired by George Boolos' great "Godel's Second Incompleteness Theorem Explained in Words of One Syllable". http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Math/Milnikel/boolos-godel.pdf http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Math/Milnikel/boolos-godel.pdf I wonder if Hofstadter was inspired by Boolos?
- breadbox 13y agoActually, Hofstadter states that he was inspired by a magazine contest.
- ArekDymalski 13y agoI think it would be easier to read without all these colloquial bits "like, you know, heck, get over it". Anyway it's impressive effort.
- heyitsnick 13y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constrained_writing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constrained_writing