Why Writers Should Use (Some) Big Words
You’ve heard the variations on the theme: Don’t choose a $20 word when a $0.10 one will do. Keep everything to a 4th-grade reading level. Concise and simple writing is better.
Those mantras have some credibility — if you’re aiming for more universal reach, more “elevated” or “educated” language might block some doors instead of opening them. But in terms of supporting creativity, personal voice, and comprehension, they’re alligators swimming in a moat of conformity.
In the video below, I summarize how a loss of “big” words damages communication by sacrificing beauty, nuance, and connotation. This doesn’t mean we all should toss in “big” words just to sound intelligent — I still believe we have to use them with discernment, and if you truly can get the same point across with something simpler, do it.
Rather, I’m simply going to war on the argument that writers should dumb their writing down, in part because a larger vocabulary allows writers to be more versatile — I can keep it simple like Hemingway, or I can choose to flow like Dickens, depending on what’s appropriate for my mood and the goal of the piece.
The argument in favor of simplicity is that we have to acknowledge that most people aren’t going to grasp larger terms they don’t regularly use. There’s truth in that. But in that space, we have a choice. We can either match the current level, which dooms readers to stay there, or we can pepper in just a few challenging terms and support readers as they expand their vocabulary.
People absolutely can learn to read more complex work. But they have to be offered the opportunity. If we’re constantly giving them the lowest fruit, we rob them of that.
[Transcript summary]
If you are writing something and you have to choose between the word big and the word gargantuan, which word are you going to pick?
I’m guessing if you are like most people, you’re going to choose the word big. It’s a common word. Everybody knows it. You know you’re going to be understood. So, why would you want to choose gargantuan?
I’m Wanda Thibodeaux. I am the sole proprietor of takingdictation.com. And I bring this up because there is such a debate right now about what reading level should we be writing at. Should we be writing down here so that everybody understands, we can get a lot of people to understand, or should we be, kind of, elevating it, up here?
Now, my take is, please, please, at least occasionally, use the big words. Please. And here’s why.
All of the bigger words, they have beauty. They have connotation. They have nuance. Now, if you cut out all of those big words, guess what you lose. You lose the beauty, you lose the connotation, you lose the nuance. Now, if you are trying to communicate really well and you need that nuance, but now all of a sudden, that word is gone, what are you going to do?
So, my opinion is that we really need to start at least sprinkling in the big words. I don’t think we should dumb it down so that everybody can understand. We need to be teaching people up. Now, of course, that has to happen gradually, right? Somebody at a fourth grade reading level, you’re not expecting them to read Shakespeare or graduate level stuff overnight. That has to be a gradual process. But I think it does need to happen, simply because the larger words, when used at the right time, appropriately, can really expand our ability to communicate and connect with other people and really get those nuanced meanings of what we’re trying to say.
I’m Wanda Thibodeaux. Take care. Bye.