On Style and Substance

Don’t worry; this isn’t another Moldbug rant.

Occasionally on the Net you’ll come across a blogger or commenter or whatnot who has an excessively florid style of writing. It’s too try-hard. And it got me thinking about style versus substance.

My view:

While it’s not optimal to always be plain-spoken, being plain-spoken should be one’s default setting. This is especially appropriate if you believe you have important points to make.

For example, in a couple of recent posts I took up the topic of why a world with no bad behavior is impossible. (First post (longer) and second post (shorter).) In the second post the only word outside of the standard 1,000-word English vocabulary that I used, as far as I recall, was “equilibrium,” and I used that because it’s unavoidable given the point being made. And it’s not a particularly fancy word.

When should you depart from this default setting? I can think of three circumstances:

1. When the subject matter demands it. For example, I’m not averse to talking about random walk/martingale theory if it’s a basic part of the point I’m making (First random-walk post and second random-walk post.) Same for fixed-point theorems and the Theorem of the Maximum. But I wouldn’t mention those things for no reason. What purpose would be served?

2. Every now and then at random for stylistic variation.

3. Every now and then to preserve or spread a cool or useful word. Spider Robinson, the SF writer, stated that not only is it not a sin for a writer to employ slang and idiom, at least in dialog; it’s arguably a writer’s duty to use them in order to help preserve them. The same point applies to our wonderful English lexicon.

But if you are constantly using words like “otiose” or “heterodyne” in your writing, you should ask yourself if it’s really optimal for spreading your point. Or do you have a point?

If you feel you have something to prove, intellectually, well I’m sorry you’re laboring under that emotional burden. Do you want to emulate an intelligent person for realz? Don’t say “heterodyne.” Rather, try to express yourself about important matters in a way that will convince the maximum number of (reasonably non-moronic) people.

While I’m on the subject, a final tip for aspiring “smart person” emulators: One of the typical features of the smartest people, I’ve noticed, is a sense of humor. Exceptions are rare. Lo, many an absurd thing shall come to pass on this planet inhabited by talking monkeys, and it’s impossible to have two functioning neurons to rub together and fail to notice the absurdity.