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   Mignon Fogarty (grammargirl@zirk.us)'s status on Friday, 25-Jul-2025 01:40:36 JST Mignon Fogarty

   I learned the most amazing fact from Anne Greene's new book "Writing Science in Plain English" — the human retina can only process about 7 letters at a time.

   That means you have to focus on longer words twice before you can process them. It's another good reason to use shorter words!

   WATCH: https://youtu.be/o3sIlmITE4w

   READ: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/greene/transcript

   LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229

   #GrammarGirl #Writing #podcast

   • Embed this notice
     Cooking the books (nichelle@wandering.shop)'s status on Friday, 25-Jul-2025 01:40:33 JST Cooking the books

     in reply to

     AI is already killing authors' voices. Let's not self-mutilate our prose in order to hit some imaginary standard of optimal reading time. Maybe it's a good thing for a reader to have to slow down and think about what they are reading, instead of swallowing it whole without reflection.

     Do not listen to all the writing advice you hear. Think about it before you take it into your own craft.

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     [Edit: replaced a word with a better one]

     #Writing #GrammarGirl #WritingCraft #Writing

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     Cooking the books (nichelle@wandering.shop)'s status on Friday, 25-Jul-2025 01:40:34 JST Cooking the books

     in reply to

     I normally like Grammar Girl, but I totally disagree with this. By all means, let's curtail our vocabulary so we can all contribute to the dumbing down of America. 🙄

     When I write, I use the words I think are best suited to convey meaning and establish flow and rhythm. My own vocabulary grew with reading (which is why I sometimes mispronounce things, having learned a word in written context before hearing it spoken).

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     #Writing #GrammarGirl #WritingCraft #Writers #WritingCommunity

     Silver Huskey repeated this.