There is an old saying amongst technical writers - “Write to inform, not impress”. Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe quotes this gem from a Californian academic:
The move from a structuralist account in which capital is understood to structure social relations in relatively homologous ways to a view of hegemony in which power relations are subject to repetition, convergence, and rearticulation brought the question of temporality into the thinking of structure, and marked a shift from a form of Althusserian theory that takes structural totalities as theoretical objects to one in which the insights into the contingent possibility of structure inaugurate a renewed conception of hegemony as bound up with the contingent sites and strategies of the rearticulation of power.
Are you impressed? I’m not. I’m that disgusted that I’m not even going to quote the person’s name.
What would impress the heck out of me would be something that conveys the writer’s message clearly and with a minimum of fancy three-dollar words. As a general rule of thumb: anyone that uses more than four words of more than three syllables each in the one sentence had better have a really good reason to do so.
I’ve consulted on documentation usability and done a lot of field research. I’ll let you in on a secret: bad grammar and poor spelling do not get in the way nearly so much as these two fox paws:
- fancy three-dollar words: I love the phrase “fancy three-dollar words” because it lampoons these monsters so well. The cure is to never use five syllables when two will do.
- long multi-clause sentences: the reason for doing this, or not doing this, whatever may happen, or not, should be obvious, even to the most casual observer, unless there is a specific reason, and it had better be good, to throw in the long multi-clause, you know what a clause is, like, the space between commas in this sentence, sentence, and long, well, we’ll get to a definition of long shortly, what do you think? That they are confusing is bad enough, they are usually just too long. The cure is “if in doubt, read the sentence out loud. If it takes more than one breath, it is too long - rewrite it”.
Don’t get me wrong - bad grammar and poor spelling do get in the way. They just aren’t as confusing (unless they are totally woeful) as our friends the fancy three-dollar word and the long multi-clause sentence.
I am far from perfect - if I’m tired or really fired up about the subject matter, sometimes I will let slip with an unimpressive sentence or two. The trick is to not make a habit of it.
Andrew, you make a really valid point. I really have to pull myself up on this sometimes. If in doubt, I send it to a (shall remain anonymous) family member who tells me to pull my head in if I’m being too pretentious!
Hi Meg,
thanks for your comment.
I like the idea of having an editor/reviewer look at posts before they go out - perhaps there is a place for a pre-posting peer review community for bloggers.
Best regards, Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Well, yes and no. You’d need to have a person (or people) you trust implicitly and then everybody’s style is unique, so if you get too much input then the style is no longer yours.
That being said, if you want to run something by me I’m happy to have a look.
Hello Andrew
I think that we can learn from good and bad writing. This is an especially egregious bad example. That said reading good writing on blogs can help with our own presentation and content.
Thanks Meg,
thank you for the offer, I will take you up on it as soon as I can. I remember running the article on gender in the workplace past a woman colleague/friend prior to posting it because I was not 100% sure that I hadn’t crossed a line.
Best regards, Andrew
Hi Colin,
thank you for your comment.
I love extreme examples - there is nothing better to illustrate a point
I didn’t talk about the importance of context - there are some audiences where wordiness is appropriate and expected, or at least accepted (and academia, to be fair, is one of these).
I take your point on learning - it is a very good thing.
Best regards, Andrew
Ah, be gentle, Andrew - those poor academics can’t help being all polysyllabic!
But can you hear me cheering for your post, all the same?
Hi Jen,
I can hear you cheering from here
Thank you,
Best regards, Andrew
This is sure an issue for me! Not that I’m necessarily writing to impress - but definitely writing at far too complex a level for my average audience. In fact, my only negative comment on my last professional review was that I needed to tone that down, it intimidated people. Ouch.
Hi Jeri,
it can be hard to pitch at the right level - I’ve had the same criticism in the past (and vice versa).
Best regards, Andrew