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Explain it to me like I'm ten

timharford.com

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Re: Explain it to me like I'm ten

#11

Post by nemosaltat »

01284a7e wrote: post #6
rpdillon wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The blog post isn't directed at 10-year-olds. In fact, you're pulling a phrase from a paragraph that's describing exactly how you should not speak when talking to a 10-year-old. > The simplest constraint for anyone trying to explain a complex topic is to accept the request to “explain it to me like I’m 10 years old”. What’s packed into that request is, vividly exaggerated, the reminder that what seems obvious to an e…

[flagged]

It might be helpful to note that this article was written for the FT (as he mentions at the very bottom.) While it aphoristically may make a “pre out of you and me,” I presume neither the author, nor the subscribership of FT _are_ indeed (or wish to be) constrained to the language of a typical 10-year-old. Presumably the same would apply to the readership of HN.

We don’t know if the author _can_ explain it like we’re ten, but I think we can be reasonably certain they understandably chose not to.

Re: Explain it to me like I'm ten

#12

Post by atoav »

01284a7e wrote: post #6
rpdillon wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The blog post isn't directed at 10-year-olds. In fact, you're pulling a phrase from a paragraph that's describing exactly how you should not speak when talking to a 10-year-old. > The simplest constraint for anyone trying to explain a complex topic is to accept the request to “explain it to me like I’m 10 years old”. What’s packed into that request is, vividly exaggerated, the reminder that what seems obvious to an e…

[flagged]

Good thing they never claimed to be writing in that style then. Not sure what you're working yourself up over here. Authors are allowed to write about a method of writing without having to apply it themselves.

Re: Explain it to me like I'm ten

#13

Post by FinnLobsien »

I think constraints essentially force you to reevaluate the thing from base principles because you add a condition that’s incompatible with the default way of doing things.

I think this is also why hackathons work: You can’t afford the bikeshedding we often do to avoid the hard work because you need to ship something by a deadline 1/500th of most of your normal deadlines, so all of your effort is concentrated into what moves the core work forward.

What gets proven in hackathons often become features, products, or companies later - even if they’re things that would be ruled out in any planning meeting because they seem too hard/laborious.

Re: Explain it to me like I'm ten

#14

Post by Chris2048 »

01284a7e wrote: post #6
rpdillon wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The blog post isn't directed at 10-year-olds. In fact, you're pulling a phrase from a paragraph that's describing exactly how you should not speak when talking to a 10-year-old. > The simplest constraint for anyone trying to explain a complex topic is to accept the request to “explain it to me like I’m 10 years old”. What’s packed into that request is, vividly exaggerated, the reminder that what seems obvious to an e…

[flagged]

Is "explaining it like I'm ten" a complex topic?

Re: Explain it to me like I'm ten

#15

Post by vova_hn2 »

01284a7e wrote: post #2

[flagged]

I think that the author is doing it deliberately, to put the reader in the shoes of someone who has a hard time understanding some of the words, and reinforce his point.

As a non-native English speaker there are 4 words in this article that I had to look up, which is significantly higher than a typical article from HN frontpage (usually it's 0, occasionally 1).

If anyone curious, the words are: pellucid, fusillades, pram (idk, why I never heard it. I knew the word "stroller", of course, but I never thought about different kinds of strollers), octogenarian (this one I could have guessed from Latin roots and context, was lazy).

Re: Explain it to me like I'm ten

#16

Post by hn_go_brrrrr »

vova_hn2 wrote: post #15
01284a7e wrote: post #2

[flagged]

I think that the author is doing it deliberately, to put the reader in the shoes of someone who has a hard time understanding some of the words, and reinforce his point. As a non-native English speaker there are 4 words in this article that I had to look up, which is significantly higher than a typical article from HN frontpage (usually it's 0, occasionally 1). If anyone curious, the words are: pellucid, fusillades,…

Pram is common in British English. I'm guessing you learned US English, which doesn't use it.

Re: Explain it to me like I'm ten

#17

Post by KineticLensman »

hn_go_brrrrr wrote: post #16
vova_hn2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that the author is doing it deliberately, to put the reader in the shoes of someone who has a hard time understanding some of the words, and reinforce his point. As a non-native English speaker there are 4 words in this article that I had to look up, which is significantly higher than a typical article from HN frontpage (usually it's 0, occasionally 1). If anyone curious, the words are: pellucid, fusillades,…

Pram is common in British English. I'm guessing you learned US English, which doesn't use it.

Yes, as slang for ‘perambulator’, which is basically ‘stroller’

Re: Explain it to me like I'm ten

#19

Post by thaumasiotes »

hn_go_brrrrr wrote: post #16
vova_hn2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that the author is doing it deliberately, to put the reader in the shoes of someone who has a hard time understanding some of the words, and reinforce his point. As a non-native English speaker there are 4 words in this article that I had to look up, which is significantly higher than a typical article from HN frontpage (usually it's 0, occasionally 1). If anyone curious, the words are: pellucid, fusillades,…

Pram is common in British English. I'm guessing you learned US English, which doesn't use it.

The word pram doesn't exist in American English, true, but you'll learn it anyway if you ever read Peter Pan.
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