I’ve talked about not over-using the same, tired words, which ties into other, earlier posts that stressed the importance of a good vocabulary. Having a healthy variety of words to play with can only help the quality of your writing, right?
Well, yes, but here’s the Catch-22. I’m sure that you folks would all recognize A+ words like “prodigious,” “ratiocination,” “loquacious,” or whatever, because clearly you are all wise and erudite people, but . . . what if your readers aren’t familiar with them? Does it make you sound pretentious and too out-of-touch? Does it make you sound like you’re showing off?
Too many “big words” may make your writing obscure, rather than clear, elitist rather than elevated, smug rather than smart.
It is a fine line to walk. I can (and do) recommend that you foster as large a vocabulary as your brain can absorb, but there are occasionally problems about actually using it. I don’t know that I can actually tell you why, however. Maybe it’s a cultural thing, where showing off is frowned upon, even over something as simple as vocabulary and correct grammatical structure. Or perhaps there’s a desire to fit in, to talk like everyone else who’s not an English professor. Or maybe it’s just that simple words like “good,” and “pretty” are just that? Simple. Straight-forward. Solid, Anglo-Saxon, strong words . . . not fancy like the Latin-based ones.
Ultimately, I think it comes down to knowing your audience. (How many times have you heard that, huh?) If you are writing to a group of English professors, darn it, buff that vocabulary to a eye-searing shine and take it for a spin around the block to see what it can do. If you’re writing to a group of 10-year olds, though, it’s probably best to leave the souped-up vocabulary in the garage and bring out the Schwinn instead. But leave off the training wheels. You wouldn’t encourage a 10-year old to try riding his bicycle along a super highway, but you want him to be smart enough to recognize the cool, mind-stretching words when he sees them, so don’t be afraid to use some words that he might not know.
Because, here’s the other thing–never talk down to your audience. You might not want to pitch your writing style so high above their heads that you can’t connect to the reader, but there’s nothing wrong with making them stretch just a little to absorb your wisdom.
It’s a fine line, but who ever said that keeping it simple was a bad thing?
It is very hard to make a fancy vocabulary work for you. I can think of a couple exceptions to your rule. Long ago, Howard Cosell was an incredibly popular Monday Night Football announcer/sports commentator who regularly flaunted his vocabulary (I think he was a former attorney). Some loved him, some loved to hate him, but he made big $$. Then there was the recently departed William F. Buckley, who breezily slipped words into his conversation I couldn’t even pronounce. But people, even his intellectual opponents, seemed to respect and admire him anyway. But yes, I think people like that are extremely rare.
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Who could forget Howard Cosell’s reedy, nasally voice? Although, not being a sports fan, I never actually WATCHED any of his games, but I sure knew the sound of his voice (grin).
I was reading through an old, childhood favorite last month and was actually impressed with how many “big words” the author used for a book geared toward 10-year olds, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s something she would have trouble doing now, with the dumbing-down of education these days.
One thing that I’ve learned that always stands me in good stead is remembering:
1.) Tell your audience what you’re going to say.
2.) Say it.
3.) Tell your audience what you just said.
This works great in online how-tos as well as at speaking engagements.
Enjoy,
Barbara
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This post is amusingly apropos. I’ve just be handed a 7-page report in French, which is to be a sample of the reports I should write for this company. French is more flowery, but I’d use several other adjectives such as pretentious and pedantic for this sample. I’ve been writing my reports in this field for seven and a half years, and generally keep them to one page. I need the research reports which say that shorter is better, and more likely to be read.
@Barbara, I agree with that, but as a reader, I always feel that step #1 is so important to do RIGHT. So many authors give so much away while they’re telling you what they’re going to tell you, I often don’t feel it’s necessary to read any further!
@Gillian–and yes, shorter often is better. Unless something is so fascinating, gripping, challenging, and fun that you just don’t wat it to end at all, and I don’t think too many research papers come in under that category (grin).
This topic speaks to me. I’ve always read a lot, and had a larger vocabulary because of it. More than that, I love words. I like how precise you can be. I can search my mind and come up with a word that eloquently expresses exactly the sentiments I’m trying to convey. (Well, sometimes. Often I’m left searching, trying to remember.)
I feel that this love of words and this knowledge of them actually acts as more of a hindrance. No matter how carefully I may choose my words to avoid affronting someone, if the person I am speaking with doesn’t understand the nuances of language, they may mistake my meaning anyway. And contrariliwise (to quote Alice), I may take more offense than is intended, since I understand the insult in the connotation of a word, even if the speaker is ignorant of it.
Now I fear I am becoming less eloquent, rather than more. It’s probably the heat.
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@Maria–It makes perfect sense to me. Is there anything more frustrating than making a perfectly-worded statement to a friend, only to have them ask, “What does that mean?” So that you have to try to define the word for them, by which time you’re just wishing you hadn’t said anything more than, “Isn’t this fun?” in the first place (grin).
I had to chuckle when I read, “Maybe it’s a cultural thing, where showing off is frowned upon, even over something as simple as vocabulary and correct grammatical structure.” Which culture are you thinking of? Not American culture surely, where people are encouraged from the 1st grade on to flaunt whatever they’ve got — except, of course, intelligence. Ours is not society that prizes modesty, but nor does it value intellectual ability. Indeed, in many quarters, “intellectual” is a no less damning epithet than “liberal.” Using fancy words just to show people that you know them is never a good idea. Use the right word, the precise word, the apt word, even it is not to be found on a 5th-grade vocabulary list. And if what you are saying is important enough or compelling enough, your reader may just go look the word up in a dictionary (only a click away these days) and learn something.
@Rawley–but that doesn’t mean our mothers didn’t strive to teach us not to show off. I know that mine did! I was taught that there was a time and place for that kind of thing, though I was a natural show-off, so it was a hard lesson to learn (grin).
I’ve often heard that most kinds of writing for the general public – especially novels – should be written on the 8th grade level. Most people don’t want to have to work hard when reading for pleasure. That doesn’t mean that you can’t use a “big word” when it’s the best way to convey meaning, but on the whole, the writing should be simple enough to make reading easy. The vocabulary should vary with the purpose and the audience. An academic paper would use a different vocabulary than a novel.
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Yes, I know that a lot of people are turned off by large and obscure words). Another way to go is to use them sparingly, maybe one or two in a piece. That way, the meaning can be determined by context or (better yet) the reader’s curiosity can be roused just enough to make them want to look the words up.
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