: Re: Colorfulness of Language Vs. Simplicity In school I've always been taught to use colorful adjectives/verbs in writing. I recently wrote a blog on Medium and sent it to a couple friends, they

@Deb2945533

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It boils down to balance between primitive and pretentious. Both are bad, but unless you are a simpleton, it's easier to fall into pretentious than boorish.

The rule to avoid this is simple: if a simpler word carries exactly the same meaning as the elaborate one, pick the simple one. If you need a phrase (two simpler words or more) to simplify the more elaborate word, use the more elaborate one.

Regardless, make completely sure the word you use means exactly what you want it to mean. There's not many faster ways to make an ass of yourself than by using a wrong elaborate word.

I'll bold the good uses of words that replaced simpler alternatives correctly, and correct the wrong uses. Of course this is subjective, and the border is blurred, but you can get the rough clue where you went wrong.

Somewhere in the transition from print to electronica, our news generating process broke down. Today, we have in place an incentive systems that awardsrewards viewership, and ergothus ad revenue, on grounds of ethical flexibility over journalistic integrity. It is process that subverts the underpinnings of good reporting — accuracy, objectivity, and impartiality for practically all things
pursuant todriving the clicks and shares.

In the last couple years, we have been besetbombarded with stories about Trump demagoguery and phone/tablet/TV releases where the only distinguishable improvementvisible advance is the 2mm curvature / reduction in thickness from the previous. When I open my news app, it feels like I’m trapped in some microcosm of myopiashort-sightedness — article after articles of political idiocy, and celebrity banality. So what has changed?

Some highlights:

misuse of awards. The system doesn't give viewership as a prize. It gives a prize for viewership.
Good use of subverts the underpinnings. Simplification of that would be roughly two times as long.
I'm not adamant about beset. It feels a little archaic to me, but that's just my personal impression.
It feels like distinguishable improvement could be improved.
Microcosm is a nice metaphor, but not being a native speaker, I had to look up Myopia. That's deterrent.

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