how to write computer books - Orwell explained, Rule 2: Short words

Tips, tricks, and techniques to make your computer books better. by David Barnes

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Orwell explained, Rule 2: Short words

“Never use a long word where a short one will do.”

You should use the shortest word that gets your meaning across, and is precise enough for your purpose. “Use” is almost always preferable to “utilize” or “leverage”. Only use the longer word if it adds something useful.

Using long words might make you feel clever. They can make you look clever too but the cost is making the reader feel stupid. If you’re saying something worthwhile then let the reader focus on understanding your meaning, not your complex words.

This is a bigger issue than you think. Readers can understand your long words, but they gang together and a sentence with lots of 3-syllable words is harder to grasp than a sentence with more 2-syllable words.

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