“Why is so much writing so hard to understand?
Why must a typical reader struggle to follow an academic article, the fine
print on a tax return, or the instructions for setting up a wireless home
network?” . . .
“The Curse of Knowledge . . . a difficulty in imagining
what it is like for someone else not to know something that you know. The curse
of knowledge is the single best explanation I know of why good people write bad
prose.”
—Steven
Pinker, Harvard psychologist, in Glenn Leibowitz’s “The Single Reason Why People Can’t Write,” Inc.,
July 2017. See Pinker, “The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing
in the 21st Century,” 2017. (Thanks to alert WORDster Mark Larson)
• Editorial Comment: There’s also the Curse of Ignernce.
Ferocious Sadie Loves Her Hose
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“I don’t think writers are sacred,
but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right
order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard
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