Simple Language, Plain Rhetoric: Dumbing Down of Literature

Simple Language, Plain Rhetoric: Dumbing Down of Literature

With a tendency to produce articles using so-called "big" words often I am emplored to "keep it simple!" My Professor Emeritus buddy used to tell me this time and again. We spoke in the same terms as my writing, but disagreed on the production of our discussions to a written format. He insisted on pabulum to ease the reader's mind. He published many more books than I, yet we did speak the the same oral language as my writing. He would say, "people like to read only what they can understand and most people can't understand our discussions."

Notes come now and again asking from readers (two of them actually) that ask for easier language, less vocabulary, more plainness~viewing the presentation as vanity writing. There are those topics where suggestions to remain simplistic are well served, but in researching topics relative to the Fourth Estate concepts are presented most often through complex terms. These concepts are then circumnavigated toward a more basic and appeasing format with the intention to not insult their literary path or you the reader through oversimplification. The result is often an in-depth read.

The FEGs readership is generally atypical which builds the premise to support "less simple language" and "more vocabulary intensity." This article focusses on the dumbing down of the Internet, literature, and education. As FEGs, we need to embrace our role in the fight to keep intellectualization alive and well.

An e-commerce publication quotes:

"As e-tailers grapple with trying to make websites easier for on-line visitors to use, a disconcerting question is coming to the fore: How dull do you have to be to shop on-line? Yes, simplicity is important. All things being equal, customers will certainly choose an easier-to-use website over a harder one, but maybe all things are starting to become a bit too equal. As sites that once presented information in a unique way fall in step with all the other sheep, the magic of the Web - a magic that keeps people logging on to shop (by the way) - could dwindle." Stop Dumbing Down the Web! Keith Regan. E-Commerce Times. 11-15-2000.

It is obvious retailers are beginning to see a need for more compelling presentations to sell on-line. It is also obvious that simplicity has taken a hold of the marketer arena, to wit they chime "how dull do you have to be to shop on-line?" Does anyone enjoy a marketplace that contends a lack of embellishment will better sell a product? Certainly this is a contradiction of terms marketing without embellishing. Yet, prudence and bare severity are modern sales tools on the Internet according to E-commerce Times.

Go To Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic