or,1 “Why people who think that long words are inherently bad and should never be used—because they might not make sense to other people—are wrong.”
A common piece of writing advice is to “avoid using long words.” According to this line of thought, good communication expresses thoughts completely in simple words, instead of showing off the author’s vocabulary—and those who use big words flatter their egos at the expense of getting their point across.
When obscure words are used, fewer people understand them. But this can be for one of two reasons: because they’re being used by the author to sound more intelligent (which is bad), or because they serve as efficient references to obscure abstractions (which can be good). Some things are complicated, and require precision: in such cases, sesquipedalian communication is indeed effective.
Look at any academic discussion of science, or at the debates of engineering professionals: no layman has any hope of comprehending the strange words flying around. But this makes sense, because jargon serves to compress ideas which would otherwise take a long time to explain. A programmer can spend paragraphs describing how fast their sorting program runs, or can say “in
O(n log n) time” and be done with it. Nobody without any computer science knowledge can tell what the latter means, but that’s usually okay—whoever they’re talking to should know, or can ask them what they mean.
But often big words are used to puff simple ideas up, so that they seem more impressive than they are. This is how most people—including me—learned to write: they’re given a shallow topic to write a long essay on, and after writing down everything they know, they pull out the thesaurus to meet the requirements by restating their ideas in all sorts of different ways. It’s most common in school, but these bad habits trickle into the real world too—and are what the common advice tries to warn against.
Good usage of weird words compresses ideas; bad usage obscures them.
Complex words in a proper setting correctly signal to observers that they are not knowledgeable enough to follow along—and this is fine, because it’s true. The reason such language is used is to compress communication with those who do understand, though; confusing normies is a side effect!
But out of that comes danger. Just as vulnerable prey mimic the decorations of their more dangerous cousins to avoid getting eaten, people who want their ideas to be accepted without argument will also use complicated words in the hope that you, uncomprehending, surrender to them (just as you would yield to someone who’s above your level). This strategy, an insidious version of the appeal to authority, is called “Eulering”2.
How can you tell one type of obscure communication from another? By trying to understand, and asking clarifying questions. Anyone who understands the big words they use—and means what they say with them—will be able to uncompress their speech: to give you a longer and more familiarly-worded explanation. When a charlatan or poser is using big words, in contrast, asking questions will force them to either (1) backtrack on what they said, (2) give circular definitions, or (3) contemptuously deny your request, implying or saying that you’re simply too far below their level to understand.
Unfortunately, it can be quite hard to judge someone if you cannot interact with them. If someone leaves an incomprehensible Reddit comment, how can you tell if (1) you’re uneducated in the area, (2) they’re crazy, (3) they’re deliberately messing with you, or (4) they’re correct, but just a bad writer? Sometimes you can’t; you just have to rely on your gut, or be content with uncertainty and move on.
Long words are not inherently bad; in proper usage, they serve to compress, rather than to obscure. But since compressed language is often hard for the layperson to understand, those who seek to dazzle you into submission will sprinkle their language with long words to obscure their arguments, hoping to be accepted on faith and authority rather than from a place of mutual understanding.
The intentionally incomprehensible title is a joke. ↩
“Getting Eulered,” Scott Alexander (2014). ↩
"Kwa nini watu ambao wanafikiri maneno marefu ni mabaya na haipaswi kutumiwa kamwe, kwa sababu huenda yasionekane kuwa na maana kwa watu wengine, ni makosa? ""Kila kipande cha ushauri wa kuandika ni ""kuepuka kutumia maneno marefu.""" Maneno yasiyoeleweka yanapotumiwa, ni watu wachache wanaowaelewa. Lakini hii inaweza kuwa kwa moja ya sababu mbili: kwa sababu wao ni kutumika na mwandishi sauti akili zaidi (ambayo ni mbaya), au kwa sababu wao kutumika kama marejeo ufanisi kwa abstraktions obscure (ambayo inaweza kuwa nzuri). Baadhi ya mambo ni ngumu, na zinahitaji usahihi: katika kesi kama hizo, mawasiliano ya sesquipedalian ni kweli ufanisi. Angalia majadiliano yoyote ya kitaaluma ya sayansi, au katika mijadala ya wataalamu wa uhandisi: hakuna layman ana matumaini yoyote ya kuelewa maneno ya ajabu kuruka kuzunguka. Lakini hii ina maana, kwa sababu jargon hutumika kufupisha mawazo ambayo vinginevyo itachukua muda mrefu kuelezea. Mkurugenzi wa programu anaweza kutumia mafungu kuelezea jinsi haraka programu yao ya kupanga inaendesha, au inaweza kusema <unk> katika O (n log n) wakati<unk> na kufanyika na hilo. Hakuna mtu bila maarifa yoyote ya sayansi ya kompyuta anaweza kusema nini mwisho ina maana, lakini kwamba <unk> ni kawaida sawa <unk>yeyote wao<unk> ni kuzungumza na lazima kujua, au inaweza kuwauliza nini maana. Lakini mara nyingi maneno makubwa hutumiwa kupanua mawazo sahili, ili yaonekane kuwa yenye kuvutia zaidi kuliko yalivyo. Hii ni jinsi watu wengi, ikiwa ni pamoja na mimi, kujifunza kuandika: wao ni kupewa mada ya chini ya kuandika insha ndefu juu, na baada ya kuandika kila kitu wanajua, wao kuvuta thesaurus kukidhi mahitaji kwa restating mawazo yao katika kila aina ya njia tofauti. Ni ya kawaida zaidi katika shule, lakini tabia hizi mbaya trickle katika ulimwengu halisi pia na ni nini ushauri wa kawaida anajaribu kuonya dhidi ya. Matumizi mazuri ya maneno ya ajabu hufupisha mawazo; matumizi mabaya huyaficha. Maneno magumu katika mazingira sahihi sahihi ishara kwa watazamaji kwamba wao si ujuzi wa kutosha kufuata pamoja - na hii ni nzuri, kwa sababu ni kweli. Hata hivyo, sababu ya kutumia lugha hiyo ni ili kupunguza mawasiliano na wale wanaoelewa; kutatanisha viwango ni athari ya upande! Lakini hatari hutokea kutokana na hilo. Kama vile windo dhaifu linavyoiga mapambo ya jamaa zao hatari ili kuepuka kuliwa, watu ambao wanataka mawazo yao yakubaliwe bila hoja pia watatumia maneno magumu kwa matumaini kwamba wewe, bila kuelewa, utajisalimisha kwao (kama vile ungejisalimisha kwa mtu aliye juu ya kiwango chako). Mkakati huu, toleo la hila la rufaa kwa mamlaka, inaitwa <unk>Eulering<unk>2. Unawezaje kutofautisha aina moja ya mawasiliano yasiyoeleweka na nyingine? Kwa kujaribu kuelewa, na kuuliza maswali ya kufafanua. Mtu yeyote ambaye anaelewa maneno makubwa wanayotumia - na maana nini wanasema nao - ataweza uncompress hotuba yao: kukupa ufafanuzi mrefu na zaidi familiar-worded. Wakati charlatan au poser ni kutumia maneno kubwa, kinyume chake, kuuliza maswali itawalazimisha ama (1) backtrack juu ya kile walichosema, (2) kutoa ufafanuzi mviringo, au (3) contemptuously kukataa ombi lako, implicating au kusema kwamba wewe ni tu mbali sana chini ya ngazi yao kuelewa. Kwa bahati mbaya, inaweza kuwa vigumu sana kumhukumu mtu ikiwa huwezi kuingiliana naye. Ikiwa mtu anaondoka maoni ya Reddit yasiyoeleweka, unawezaje kujua ikiwa (1) wewe hauna elimu katika eneo hilo, (2) wao ni wazimu, (3) wanafanya kazi na wewe kimakusudi, au (4) wao ni sahihi, lakini ni mwandishi mbaya tu? Wakati mwingine huwezi; lazima tu uamini hisia zako, au uridhike na kutokuwa na uhakika na kuendelea. Maneno marefu si mabaya kiasili; yanapotumiwa ifaavyo, yanatumiwa kufinyanisha, badala ya kuficha. Lakini kwa kuwa lugha iliyofupishwa mara nyingi ni ngumu kwa mtu wa kawaida kuelewa, wale wanaotafuta kukupendeza katika kujitiisha watapiga lugha yao kwa maneno marefu ili kuficha hoja zao, wakitumaini kukubaliwa kwa imani na mamlaka badala ya kutoka mahali pa uelewevu wa pande zote. Kichwa hicho kisichoeleweka kimakusudi ni mzaha. <unk> <unk>Kupata Eulered,<unk> Scott Alexander (2014). 