My eleventh rule to write by is the $64,000 Word Theory. Many people choose longer, more complex words because they think it makes them look smarter. They don’t realize the result takes longer to read, can send people (unhappily) to the dictionary, and gives the message that the writer is more important than the reader.
Experience has taught me there’s only one legitimate place for $64,000 words: academia. These people love big words—and often the longer and the more obscure, the better. If you’re trying to showcase your intelligence with this group—or speak in the language these people prefer—then these words are one accepted way to do both. (OK, academics: feel free to take your potshots at me on this one—but I’m betting you’ll do it polysyllabically!)
I’ll cop to being a “wordie.” I like to run into unfamiliar words, check out their definitions, and use them as appropriate (which is mostly in my head or to share a laugh with friends and family). But I’m out of the mainstream on this.
For most people in a business setting, the $64,000 word is, at best, an annoyance. If they don’t know what it means, their first reaction is usually to feel stupid—and chances are, that’s not what your communication intended. Their next reaction is anger—at you. Are you trying to make fun of them? Are you just being a show-off? Do you even know what the word means?
By this time, they’ve gotten so far from the ideas you’re trying to share that they may never return—which means you’ll never reach your objective. Everybody loses: especially you, if you wanted them to approve something.
To avoid this situation, turn to these tricks:
-
Trick #1: Know your audience. If you’re communicating with another wordie, go ahead and use challenging language. This person will appreciate it. (Honestly: I just wrote a memo with “purview” in it because I knew the CEO would like it!) If not, forget it. Most people read for content and not for style, and if you’re choosing words that scream “pay attention to me,” then they’re shouting over your content.
-
Trick #2: Watch for jargon. This falls into the same category as $64,000 words for me. Those who don’t know them feel excluded, stupid and angry. When jargon is appropriate, define your term the first time it appears. Those who know it will congratulate themselves, and you’ll avoid negativity from everyone else.
-
Trick #3: Kill the Latinate words. These are the long ones that sound like legal terms, and have their origins in Latin. (For my money, there’s a reason they call it a “dead language.”) This includes terms such as “therefore” (try “so”), “pursuant” (try “after”), “heretofore” (try “until now”), and “notwithstanding” (try “although”). When given the option of a complex versus a simple word, go for the latter—don’t let your words get in the way of your meaning.
-
Trick #4: Use the thesaurus sparingly. Most people pick one up because they’re using the same word a lot and want to give their readers some variety. This is a noble gesture. But a thesaurus can also be a crutch. Instead of trying to find new ways to express yourself, you just want to change one word. And often you end up going several words deep among the synonyms to find one that will work—and the further you go on the list, the more obscure the term becomes. Remember: it’s not just about word choice—it’s about thoughtful writing.
You want to keep your readers focused on the text—not the subtext (I’m smart, you’re dumb, etc.). The next time you have a choice, select the shorter rather than the longer word. You’ll find it usually takes you a much greater distance toward your communication’s goal than the bigger ones.
Lynn Franklin says she started Lynne Franklin Wordsmith 16 years ago because …”I was in danger of being made a partner at the world’s largest investor relations agency. Or because a tarot card reader told me to. Or because I wanted to prove my theory that wearing pantyhose didn’t make me more productive. All of those would be true.”
This is a bibliography of writing books I recommend in my seminars. You may order most of these b...
Judy Gombita spotted this list of Great Literary Taunts: “A modest little person, with muc...
One of the most debated questions in all of journalism is how to handle direct quotations. Journa...
Dick Weiss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch does some neat stuff on writing in his Weiss on Writin...
Writing good is a big deal these days. A bigger deal then math, according to my friends and I, bu...
Thanks to the onslaught of technology and our need to constantly rush through everything, our gra...
Be Brief One of the worst mistakes email copywriters make is trying to shove the entire story i...
Here are six rules of thumb that will help you write a sales message that actually helps you mov...
The value of this Business Plan process is the thinking that it forces you to do about your busin...
Web writing is all about emotional impact. We’ve already said web writing is a direct selling env...
The most important words on your web site are not the ones you wrote. Here’s my thinking on this ...
Here’s a universal principle that frames the experience of writing for the web: “Form ever follow...
If this is indeed the year of reading more and writing better, we’ve been right on course with Da...
Are you a deluded writer? Stop! Before you answer that question, let me tell you about Brian Wan...
I won’t lie to you. The verb “to lie,” meaning “to recline,” is not the easiest verb in the Engl...
Or would you rather just email me? A couple of readers have asked me about making “email” a verb....
Refined Wisdom: Here’s what I think about making verbs into nouns. Usually, there are so many b...
Let’s rein in reign! Have you noticed how often you see these two words confused? Here’s a senten...
This is a bibliography of writing books I recommend in my seminars: ...
Remember when Robert Novak (surprise, surprise) became upset with something James Carville said, ...
