Post AVGWA9WTCLJ0LeSCsy by Anarkat@anarchism.space
(DIR) More posts by Anarkat@anarchism.space
(DIR) Post #AVGVuXxcZRr5VXiDoW by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2023-05-03T03:30:47Z
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"When more than 15 percent of your words (except verbs and proper nouns) are three or more syllables, readers work with difficulty to understand your message. To reduce larger words, consider these tips: a) Use about instead of approximately; use rather than utilize; b) Convert nouns ending in –ion into verbs. Use “We considered ...” instead of “We took into consideration ...”; c) Replace endeavor with try, aggregate with total, and optimum with best."https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/about/submissions#writing
(DIR) Post #AVGWA9WTCLJ0LeSCsy by Anarkat@anarchism.space
2023-05-03T03:33:35Z
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@strypey I'm going to interpret the inverse as an idiot filter.
(DIR) Post #AVGWCA9loQQ8tRnLMG by float13@hackers.town
2023-05-03T03:33:54Z
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@strypey I'm a huge fan of plain language in tech & medicine and prefer lower syllable counts for efficiency (*cough* laziness) But my boss definitely thought I was dumb for the first year or two... we haven't had this conversation yet but I think I've generally managed to prove otherwise...
(DIR) Post #AVGadR4DRntGyXSOh6 by harshad@mastodon.sharma.io
2023-05-03T03:45:17Z
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@float13 @strypey I use a custom dictionary of top 10k English words (+ domain specific words) when writing documentation and code, along with reasoning that that's the average vocabulary of a non native English speaker. The word list and configuration is included in the repository. The last team i worked with were unsure at first but feedback from users after my changes to the docs convinced them enough to adopt the configuration into their text/code editors.Make it explicit; helps our case
(DIR) Post #AVGadRe1IgWwlaCzVA by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2023-05-03T04:23:42Z
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@harshad> I use a custom dictionary of top 10k English words (+ domain specific words) when writing documentation and codeThat's a great way make technical writing in English more accessible!> The word list and configuration is included in the repositoryCan you link me to an example?@float13
(DIR) Post #AVGathnmzjHTVmX1fs by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2023-05-03T04:26:39Z
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@amatecha> I guess I could just send those edit suggestions to themWorth a try. I'm guessing those guidelines were written by ESL speakers and haven't been updated much since the 90s when the journal was founded.@ericireland
(DIR) Post #AVGckquLyBOt3TVZY0 by harshad@mastodon.sharma.io
2023-05-03T04:47:25Z
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@strypey @float13 here's the wordlist in a recent repo, haven't included the vscode config yet, I use cspell plugin with default dictionary to l set to "lorem ipsum" and custom workspace dict set to this file.https://github.com/zycelium/zygote/blob/2e79559fba07b6cecb9f6df12c3e1d3135f70f09/dictionary.txtSource for wordlist: https://github.com/first20hours/google-10000-english/blob/master/google-10000-english-no-swears.txt
(DIR) Post #AVGgXzdmadjSBushI8 by vik@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2023-05-03T05:29:56Z
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@strypey Actively eschew verbose obfuscation.
(DIR) Post #AVHGTGOsRo454WxAOW by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2023-05-03T12:12:27Z
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@vik> Actively eschew verbose obfuscationBut I like saying tricky stuff :(
(DIR) Post #AVIUTLMRb2wSyRhvY8 by KashifShah@mastodon.sdf.org
2023-05-04T02:24:03Z
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@strypey @vik try writing like this for a little while to expand your lexical liturgy: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime
(DIR) Post #AVIYgbwfeCUJzTEZrU by Babcia54@mstdn.ca
2023-05-04T03:11:16Z
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@strypey I am a believer in plain language because I think it's important that people understand what governments and contracts are all about. At the same time, I have doubts about "dumbing" down vocabulary. A conundrum eh?
(DIR) Post #AVIa15cz69OFnLM4B6 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2023-05-04T03:26:05Z
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@Babcia54 > I am a believer in plain language because I think it's important that people understand what governments and contracts are all about. At the same time, I have doubts about "dumbing" down vocabularyWhat's your thoughts on this?https://mastodon.sharma.io/@harshad/110302692502636602