A word or two about using a word instead of two

An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.”
~Charles Bukowski

Showing off is the biggest mistake the inexperienced but talented communicator makes. When you have a big vocabulary, the temptation to use it is strong.

I was a speaker before I was a writer, which is odd.

Growing up in church with my grandfather as my pastor and, occasionally, my father serving as the pastor of small, country churches, preaching was the first and most enduring impression on my formative years. By the time I hit double digits in age, I was already doing my own version of “preaching” in various places, from Children’s Church to Old Folks Homes (as we called convalescent centers or retirement homes back then).

I learned early that I learned fast, especially language skills. Reading and writing came easily to me and quickly became a passion. As my vocabulary grew, I was enamored of various communication tricks like alliteration. Sometimes, I stretched too far to grab a word just so it started with the right letter. I also loved using words other people weren’t familiar with. It took a long time for me to realize that doing so made my communication less effective, not more.

I see this in inexperienced writers, too. They show off their vocabulary or wit at the expense of their message. It is true of writers, but also of teachers, preachers, business leaders”¦communicators of every kind.

I was recently asked by a leader how he could better communicate in his teaching. I told him, “You have to decide if you are teaching to IMPRESS or EXPRESS. Are you collecting accolades or imparting wisdom and insight?”

It is ironic but the less you try to impress, the more impressive you become.

There is power in simplicity.

Pray like you mean it

In the Bible, we find the record of The Lord’s Prayer -or The Model Prayer, as some call it. Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray effectively. In the King James Bible, the model prayer contains just sixty-six words!

"Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, for ever. Amen."

Matthew 6:9-13

Renowned evangelist and founder/editor of The Sword of the Lord, a Christian publication, in his celebrated sermon, Prayer: Asking and Receiving, insisted that if you aren’t asking, you aren’t praying, and the simpler and more direct you pray, the better.

Following is an excerpt from his message:

God deliver me from these folks so able in prayer. Oh, they sprinkle stardust and tickle the feet of the angels and pray around the world. Do you really think that’s the way to get things from God? Try it on a groceryman. Go down to the grocery store tomorrow, “Oh, Mr. Groceryman, with your hair parted in the middle and a pencil over your left ear, and a white jacket on, we come to thee this beautiful Monday morning to find some consumables for our groaning board.”

He’d say, “Shoo my lady, you feel all right? Or, maybe he’d say, “You want to buy anything? I’m busy now.”

If that’s not the way to buy groceries, that’s not the way to get things from God, either.

Just as silly as trying to impress deity with verbosity is the idea that a writer or speaker needs a word salad or floral arrangement of exotic terms to communicate a thought.

Can a Story Be Too Short?

I only mention the praying thing to illustrate the mistake writers make. Rather than writing like they think or talk, the novice overwhelms sentences, paragraphs, and concepts with furious flights of fancy.

In communication, simplicity is power!

Hemingway knows the way.

Ernest Hemingway has been credited with writing the shortest short story ever penned. Although versions of the story have been around since the early 1900s, Hemingway’s name is attached to it.

Here is the six-word short story in all its glory:

“For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.”

Like any story, short or long, there are things we don’t know about this story but what we do know hits us where we live. It evokes a powerful emotional response and curiosity.

Shakespeare was to the point.

Shakespeare deployed short, direct stories inside his plays.

“These violent delights have violent ends.”

“Eaten out of house and home.”

“To be or not to be.”

K.I.S.S.

(Every speaker needs a kiss: Keep It Short, Stupid. Every writer, too: Keep It Simple, Stupid.)

In the spirit of the KISS, and speaking to the power of brevity, Bruce Turkel wrote on LinkedIn:

This type of micro story is called “flash fiction.” These six-word memoirs were so popular that they spawned a series of books, one of which became aNew York Timesbestseller.

Here are some more examples:

“Never, ever refuse a breath mint.”

“I still make coffee for two.”

“Goodbye mission control. Thanks for trying”¦”

Six-word stories like these also work in music. Here are a few instances where you can’t even read them without singing along:

“It’s been a hard day’s night.”

“Want a whole lot of love.”

“Every little thing gonna be alright.”

“You’ve got a friend in me.”

I’m no Einstein, but”¦

I’m no Einstein, but Albert was. With an IQ hovering around 160, he is in the 99.99th percentile of humans to ever occupy the planet. He could have made everything so complicated no one would have understood what he said, but that was not his way. He believed in making things as simple as possible but no simpler than that. Some things are complicated and to dumb them down is to dilute or destroy their validity and value.

When I was in seminary, my favorite professor would often tell us preacher boys, “Put the cookies on the bottom shelf so everyone can reach them!”

Do you want a powerful presentation or a potent pen? Then simplify! Be direct. Say what you mean. Say it well. Say it clean.

In his classic book, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens may have penned the best opening lines for a novel, ever”¦

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

Just like that, Dickens caught the spirit of the Industrial Age and how it felt from the perspectives of the haves and the have-nots.

No less an authoritative historical document than The Holy Bible opens with a simple, straightforward declaration: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Don’t you see how important that opening statement is? It establishes the authority and authenticity of what is to come.

The genius of any art is to capture the complex in simplicity, to tell a story directly and powerfully. This is the genius of art and the art of genius.

Iconic businesses understand this. Take the Nike swoosh and the Amazon arrow for instance. These industry champions each use a simple graphic to make a promise and set expectations.

The Dallas Cowboys slapped a star on their helmet like a badge of honor, like a sheriff, and thus declared, “We’re the good guys. We are America’s Team!”

Other NFL teams disliked that, of course, and through the decades have made fun of it or spoken about the organization in bitter terms. Also, none of them are worth over $10 billion. Just the Cowboys, the world’s most valuable sports franchise.

Simplicity.

Never use a paragraph to say what you can say in a sentence, and never use a sentence when a word will do. Don’t put a comma where a period belongs. Stand up. Speak up. Shut up. Leave them wanting more.

This is the genius of the artist and the art of the genius communicator.