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Via EmailConversation Tip: Keep Your Language Simple
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In This Issue…
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1. Quotation of the Month
2. Conversation Tip of the Month
3. Word of the Month
4. Humor
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1. Quotation of the Month
“Never use a fifty-cent word when a ten-cent word will do.”
- Mark Twain
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2. Conversation Tip of the Month:
Keep Your Language Simple
A recent issue of Alert Diver (as in scuba diver), talked about ”avoiding cramps in lower extremity.” Huh? The phrase stopped me in my reading tracks while I translated. “Oh, that means ‘leg’. It’s about avoiding leg cramps. Why didn’t the writer just say so?”
Maybe he wanted to appear smart. Many a reader would say, ”He must be smart, because I didn’t understand a word he said.” William F. Buckley, Jr. supposedly had an active vocabulary of over 10,000 words, and I didn’t understand most of what he wrote because I didn’t bother to translate. The rest of us scoot through life on about 4,000 words, which are plenty to make your point with a listener or reader.
More words aren’t better. I’m not advocating—sorry, in favor of—expanding your vocabulary unless you’re studying for tests. Big words and long sentences can get in the way of your message.
The acid test
A plumber wrote to the Bureau of Standards saying that he had found hydrochloric acid good for cleaning out clogged drains. The Bureau wrote back, ” The efficacy of hydrochloric acid is indisputable, but the corrosive residue is incompatible with metallic permanence.”
The plumber wrote back that he was glad that the Bureau agreed. The Bureau tried again: “We cannot assume responsibility for the production of toxic and noxious residues with hydrochloric acid and suggest that you use an alternate procedure.”
The plumber replied he was glad that the Bureau agreed with him.
Finally, the Bureau wrote the plumber: “Don’t use hydrochloric acid—it eats the hell out of the pipes.”
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3. Word of the Month: obfuscate (OB-fuss-cate)
1a. Darken; b. to make obscure <obfuscate the issue>
2. Confuse <obfuscate the reader>
intransitive verb: to be evasive, unclear, or confusing
Big words and long sentences can obfuscate your message.
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4. Humor on My Blog
It’s the classic public speaking dilemma. You’ve got a captive but inattentive audience and a message they might need to know. How far would you go to get their attention for a required safety speech? Would you get naked?
Air New Zealand came up with a cheeky plan to get—and keep—the attention of their cotton-eared passengers. Watch what the Kiwis (New Zealanders) did with a flight crew, body paint, shoes and a hat. Click here:
Be sure to watch the bloopers video, too.
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As always, I welcome your comments, questions and anecdotes.
