Oftentimes I find it horribly confusing when people don't write in plain english. I am a lover of words and think a great vocabulary is wonderful, but only if used correctly.
Right now I am enrolled in a summer course about Social Networks. It pertains to their place in society and how we form identities (group and individual) on these new platforms. I was tremendously exciting going in.
But as I read the materials provided and the responses of other students I find myself confused. Like, really confused. Because they are using words to describe the medium that go so against everything in the medium.
Instead of english it's this strange academic babble that make the internet seem like a foreign country (which is very well may be for some of the authors). It's like the arguments are intentionally dense and convoluted to make it difficult for other people to understand.
Something I don't understand in the slightest.
One of my favorite authors is Kurt Vonnegut, precisely because he doesn't do that. He creates new worlds and explains scientific processes in a sentence or two. In plain english. So that the reader can understand exactly what he's written. Here's an example:
A dinosaur was a reptile as big as a choo-choo train.
Is that description scientifically valid? No. Can you still picture what he's talking about? You betcha.
And this is prevalent in all of Vonnegut's books. Taking the confusing and explaining it in a brilliantly simple way.
The problem with experts and academics is that they are complicators. They add and they add and they complicate the message until the message becomes unapproachable. The problem with this is that we get into that mindset while in college.
Or, we don't understand something and we try to hide that behind language.
In advertising it's different. In advertising you're trying to get across your message as clearly as possible.
So if you're using terms that no one can understand no one is going to want to buy what your selling. Worse, they may be interested in what you're selling but won't understand that you're selling what they want.
Make your message clear. It will save me, and countless others, a bundle on advil.