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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

#31

Post by sltkr »

ErrantX wrote: post #28
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,…

As a native English speaker; pellucid was new to me. Fusillades specifically was unfamiliar but I inferred if from context and knowing fusilier.

There's also “lexiphanic” and “denuded” (uncommon but clear from context in this case).

Re: Explain it to me like I'm ten

#33

Post by gerdesj »

"puzzling than pellucid"

Pellucid might be cromullant but it ain't pervasive. I have never heard that word and I've heard quite a few. If I had to guess: it might be American (US) in situ wankery only, for the use of.

Might be wrong.

Re: Explain it to me like I'm ten

#36

Post by pbhjpbhj »

pm215 wrote: post #21
hn_go_brrrrr wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Though even in the UK I think it has a slightly old fashioned feel -- I feel like parents are more likely to have a pushchair than a pram.

My understanding was that a pram is used for a younger child, they are laid flat. A pushchair/buggy for an older child, they sit. Language is often used incorrectly however.

A ring-sling suited us better.

I think the modern style is a multi-hundred pound (£) infant travel system. https://www.argos.co.uk/browse/baby-and-nursery/travel/trave... - up to £1500 in this relatively down-market UK shop.

Re: Explain it to me like I'm ten

#37

Post by matherial »

I agree, but not everyone can. I've worked with several people who were top experts in their field and absolutely sucked at accessible explanations. The author alludes to it here: "the very expertise that makes the expert worth consulting also makes it hard for the expert to imagine what it was like to know nothing about the topic" - but that also carries over to ELI5 or ELI10. Another problem is that, to be frank, experts sometimes don't know how to explain certain concepts. For example, you can be adept in calculus without knowing where the rules come from. All you can do is relay the rulebook to someone else.

Another problem, I think, is that we're actually overindexing on ELI5 / ELI10, a problem compounded by YouTube educators and LLMs. Many skills are hard to learn and require some trial, error, and hands-on practice. It's easy to come up with an endless supply of childlike metaphors. It's a lot harder to actually teach someone that way.

Re: Explain it to me like I'm ten

#38

Post by asdfasvea »

necovek wrote: post #27
temporallobe wrote: post #26

My favorite quote from Mark Twain is “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead”. Indeed, brevity and clarity actually take time and analysis. I find this to be very true when writing requirements or documentation. Some of the worst requirements I’ve read have been extremely wordy and unnecessarily over-technical or jargon-heavy when it could have been explained in plain language. As u…

Incidentally, that's my favourite quote from Blaise Pascal: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/28/shorter-letter/

My favorite quote for 10 years was from my 1993 college math professor:

You will never go wrong attributing a pithy quote to Benjamin Franklin or Mark Twain.

And then the internet became popular.

Re: Explain it to me like I'm ten

#39

Post by mahdi7d1 »

With both ELI5 and this title, the hidden assumption which is generally correct is that "I don't remember much from my education specifically middle and highschool".

Well I do remember my highschool subjects and I feel like there is a chasm between highly detailed technical content created for other profesionals and watered down versions for 5 year olds.

I don't see that many "explain to me like I've finished highschool" content.

Re: Explain it to me like I'm ten

#40

Post by pbhjpbhj »

gerdesj wrote: post #33

"puzzling than pellucid" Pellucid might be cromullant but it ain't pervasive. I have never heard that word and I've heard quite a few. If I had to guess: it might be American (US) in situ wankery only, for the use of. Might be wrong.

Harford, the author of the OC, is a learned man of at least middle-age (sorry!). He has been a journalist for decades.

I suspect he may have had an education including Latin (per-lucid => pellucid) making that word choice far more natural. But really it's a poetic pairing of punchy adjectives amplified by alliteration!

I'm a fan of his work generally. This piece landed well with me, I like to read less used vocabulary too. So often I can't express myself naturally because people don't share my word sense; it's liberating to release those bounds when writing for a more academic audience; as Hartford clearly was here.

I did spot an error:

>soldier a rifle

They mean shoulder, of course. Surprised if a newspaper editor or personal spellchecker missed that; perhaps it was left in as bait for social media comments!?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Harford

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