Guru's writing
  • Guru's blogging
  • Welcome!
  • NEW RELEASE!
  • Books
  • Ten Twisted Tales
  • Boogadooga Stories for Children
  • Letting go of Ganapathy
  • How to create your e-commerce website in a day
  • All My Apps
  • Ramana Nool Thirattu Urai
  • Ramana Stuthi Panchakam
  • Ramana Maharishi Translated
  • Bob Dylan and Kannadasan
  • RamanaMaharishiApp
  • MahaPeriyava
  • SingaporeDrivingQuiz
  • Advaita Masters
  • Ramana Maharishi Android App
  • GlucoTrak
  • gurucodes
  • IAMGRATEFUL

Floccinaucinihilipilification and why you shouldn't use it.

8/12/2022

0 Comments

 
There's a general rule that states that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. The long word in the title and other such attempts at showing how clever you are fall into that category. I saw the word 'onerous' in a piece of communication recently which triggered this post.

When you are learning a language for the first time, it's natural to want to impress others with your newly-acquired 'mastery'. Reminds me of this little kid who came home from school saying, 'Mom, I learnt a new word today'. Mom says, 'What's that?' Kid says, 'I'll give you three surmises'. It's ok. For a kid. Not for people who get paid to write professionally.

Because communication is about clarity. It's more about how much the other person you are talking to doesn't know or care about than about your own cleverness. That doesn't mean you have to dumb it down, far from it. You just have to keep it simple and effective. 

Consider this powerful sentence from Hemingway. In The Sun Also Rises, there's a passage where a few people are talking. One of them says, "And I went bankrupt". Another guy asks, "How did you go bankrupt?" to which the first person says, "Well, gradually, then suddenly." Brilliant, don't you think? And it applies to most situations in life. How did your marriage end? How did you lose your job? How did you become an expert? (Like that saying about overnight success taking at least ten years). 

The power of that reply is in its simplicity. It comes from experience and resonates with the reader at a different level. There's a reason proverbs, which are distilled wisdom passed down through generations, are expressed in simple language. Truth or what passes for it, expressed in simple yet powerful words, tends to last longer and have more impact. 

Floccinaucinihilipilification, by the way, means 'to regard something as worthless'. As in floccinaucinihilipilification of unnecessarily big words. 

0 Comments

Lord Hanuman, the art of communication and Jonathan Ive.

25/6/2015

 
"Communication is about being pithy and telegraphic", my eight grade teacher used to tell us while teaching a portion of the Indian epic, Ramayana (the Kamba Ramayana version). "And no one does this better than Lord Hanuman."
When Lord Hanuman came back to Lord Ram and his army after completing his mission to Lanka as a messenger, the first words he uttered were: "Found Sita". Not a word more. Nothing on the numerous hardships and problems he faced on his trip.  
A little background to this portion of the story: 
Before Lord Ram and his army crossed the ocean to Lanka, they wanted to send a messenger of peace first. Hanuman was chosen and he flew across. On the way, he faced a multitude of problems: a mountain rose hindering his flight; a monster challenged him to enter through her mouth; another fought with him unprovoked and was defeated. On entering the enemy country, he still faced many challenges. He was insulted, ill-treated and was almost executed but spared when the king's brother intervened. Instead of being executed, his tail was set on fire and he was dragged all over the city. But when he flew back to Lord Ram and the army, all he said were those two pithy words: "Found Sita"
"The point to note", said my teacher, "is that Hanuman never once mentioned, not even hinted at all the hardships he faced or how he overcame them. Not even the bit about getting nearly executed. All he said was that he found Sita. Because that was the point of the mission. That was brevity in communication. That was what needed to be said." 
Which somehow reminds me what Jonathan Ive said about design in the documentary, Objectified (a must-watch documentary btw): "When you see the indicator come on, I wouldn't expect anybody to point to it as a feature, but at some level I think you are aware of a calm and considered solution that speaks about how you are going to use it, not the terrible struggles that we as designers and engineers had in trying to solve some of the problems".  

Intelligence vs Cleverness

7/2/2014

 
There is a person, or God forbid, a group of persons, that goes around turning phrases in a template-driven, ‘look how clever I am’ type of way to impress the common man and woman who are easily wowed by such attempted cleverness. By phrase turns such as, ‘Meditation is not about finding a quiet mind, a quiet mind finds itself in meditation’, or ‘life is not about learning from hard knocks  but knocking hard on doors of opportunity’  or like the one my cousin forwarded to me today, ‘dream is effortless sleep, aim is sleepless effort’. Really twisted attempts at turning a phrase, playing with words to convey nothing but a bloated sense of vaingloriousness.

Compare this pathetic convoluted attempt to something simple and elegant like, ‘Happiness is what you are, stress is what you want to be’.

That’s’ the difference between cleverness and intelligence.  Any piece that draws attention itself usually smacks of cleverness. Intelligence guides you, stands aside and lets you absorb the essence of what it’s communicating without attracting attention to how the message is phrased whereas cleverness stands in its gaudy offensive garb on the sidewalk of mediocrity soliciting attention like a streetwalker for a few words of praise from the citizens of Easily Impressed country.

Intelligence communicates the meaning of the message. Cleverness focuses on itself.

Communication is not about how clever you are; it’s about how best to get the message across and how much or little the other person knows.

In other words: Intelligence is more about wordless meaning, where as cleverness is about meaningless words, to coin a phrase.

    New release! 
    Click to buy now.
    Picture
    last meal on haight-ashbury shrt stories
       Click below to buy
    Picture
    Ten tales with unexpected endings. If you like Dahl and O.Henry, you'll like these stories.
          Click below to buy
    Boogadooda Series The Lost Pencil
    Follow the adventures of Peaches the baby elephant and her friends in the Boogadooga Forest.
        Click below to buy
    Picture
    Coco the monkey learns a valuable lesson in the Boogadooga Forest.
       Click below to buy
    Picture
    An evocative story about the Ganapathy festival in India through the eyes of a small boy.

    On Writing

    This is about writing (mine and my favorite authors'), and e-publishing. Hope you find it useful. You can click on the covers below to read excerpts and purchase my ebooks.

    Guru

    Spent over two decades peddling assorted goods and services in the name of advertising. Now focusing on writing fiction for adults and children. And blogging.

    Archives

    December 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    October 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    October 2020
    June 2019
    March 2019
    May 2018
    January 2018
    June 2017
    April 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013

    RSS Feed

        Click below to buy
    Picture
    Build your own e-commerce site - a beginner's guide to beginners.

    Guru's books

    Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
    The Giving Tree
    The Little Prince
    A Confederacy of Dunces
    Catch-22
    Jitterbug Perfume
    Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
    Still Life with Woodpecker
    Skinny Legs and All
    Another Roadside Attraction
    The Hotel New Hampshire
    The Bonfire of the Vanities
    The Sun Also Rises
    Slaughterhouse-Five
    Cat's Cradle
    Breakfast of Champions
    Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
    The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
    A Prayer for Owen Meany
    The World According to Garp


    Guruprasad Nagarajan's favorite books »

    Categories

    All
    15 Minutes
    8 Am To 8 Pm
    Adding Gumroad On Weebly
    Advaita
    Advaita Vedanta
    Advertising
    Advertising. Copywriting
    Advice For Writers
    Adword Campaign
    Alala
    Allied Pickfords
    Allied Pickfords India
    Allied Pickfords Singapore
    Amazon
    Andy Warhol
    Apple
    Apple Battery
    Apple Rejection
    Apple Submission
    Apple Sucks
    App Store
    Arsenal
    Arsene Wenger
    Art Of Comunication
    Avvaiyar
    Avvayar
    Bard
    Basic Qualities You Need
    Battery Drains
    Battery Life
    Beauty
    Berlin
    Berlin Tourism
    Berlin Wall
    Bestseller
    Bhagavad Gita
    Bhagwan Ramana Maharishi
    Big Trouble
    Bill Bernbach
    Biometric Access
    Blacklivesmatter
    Blank Page
    Bob Dylan
    Body Mind
    Boogadooga Series
    Briliant Panda Cheese Commercials
    Buddha
    Bullet Points In Copy
    Calvin And Hobbs
    Cambell Soup
    Cellular Conflict
    Cigar
    Cinema
    Cinematography
    Clarity
    Clarity In Communication
    Clarity In Writing
    Cleverness
    Coco
    Coding
    Coimbatore
    Colorism
    Colourism
    Communication
    Convoluted Writing
    Copywriting
    Create Facebook Ads
    Crow
    Css
    Ctr
    Curiosity
    Dave Barry
    Dennis Farina
    Difficult Boss And Colleagues
    Downloads
    'Do Your Duty'
    Draft2digital
    East Side Gallery
    Ebook
    Ebook Promo
    Ebooks
    Ebooks Not Selling
    Ebook Success
    Effective Ads
    Elephants
    English Language
    Eye Of The Needle
    Eyes
    Facebook Ad Issue
    Facebook Ad Problem
    Facebook Ads
    Facebook Ads Effective
    Facebook Ads Reach Different From Google Analytics
    Facebook Ads Solution
    Facebook Advertising
    Facebook Campaign
    Facebook Ctr
    Facebook Reach
    Facebook Target Audience Problem
    Facebook Target Audience Shows 20
    Faceboook Target Audience Solution
    Fast Food Client
    Fb Ads
    Flag Counter
    Flipkart
    Flipkart Complaint
    Flipkart Goa
    Flipkart Lousy
    Focus
    Formating Ebook
    Freedom
    Freedom Of Speech
    Freelance Charge
    Freelancing
    Frustration Writer
    Fukushima Affair
    Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    German Legacy
    Goa
    Good Headlines
    Good Old Days
    Goodreads Ads
    Google Adwords
    Google Analytics
    Google Kind
    Google No Evil
    Gradually Then Suddenly
    Graffiti
    Grammar. Misuse Of English
    Gregory Rabassa
    Groucho
    Groucho Marx
    Gumroad
    Gumroad On Weebly Site
    Gumroad Overlay
    Guru Shortstories
    Guruswriting
    Guru Writing
    Harmony
    Hemingway
    History
    Hollywood
    How To Add Gumroad To Weebly Site
    How To Books
    How To Build A Website
    How To Face Rejection
    Html
    Humility
    Ibooks
    Ibooks Author
    Illiteracy
    India
    Intelligent Wriitng
    IOS App Development
    IPhone Battery
    Is Weebly Good
    It's Vs Its
    Itunes Producer
    I Used To Care
    Ivory Trade
    James Thurber
    Jerry Goldsmith
    Jonathon Ive
    Joseph Heller
    Kannada Proverbs
    Kannadasan
    'Karmanya Vadikaraste'
    KDP Select
    Keep Writing
    Kendo
    Kindergarten Wisdom
    Kindle
    Kindle Millionaire
    Last Meal In Haight Ashbury
    Last Meal On Haight-ashbury
    Last Meal On Haight Ashbury. Love To Mia
    Last Meal On Haight Ashbury Stories
    Lee Kuan Yew
    Legend Of Bager Vance
    Life Lessons
    Little Red Art
    LKY
    Lord Hanuman
    Lord Krishna
    Macro Harmony
    Merci Arsene
    Modern Family
    Monkey
    Mori Art Museum
    Movie Influence
    Movies
    New Release
    New Zealand
    Nostalgia
    Nursery Rhymes
    Office Politics
    One Hundred Years Of Solitude
    Overcome Writer's Block
    Painting
    Panda Cheese
    Panda Cheese Tvcs
    Patience
    Paypal Helpful
    Peaches
    People Are Crazy
    Phone Camera
    Picasso
    Poaching
    Poems For Kids
    Pointing Yuor Domain To Weebly
    Potential Reach
    Principles
    Proverbs
    Python
    Quote App
    Racism
    Ray Bradbury
    Rejection
    Responsibility
    Robert Adams
    Rose-tinted Glasses
    Ruby
    Rules For Writing
    Sacred Things
    Santa Doesn't Eat
    Save The Elephant
    Screen Printing
    Searching For Sugarman
    Seinfeld
    Seinfeld Cable Guy Episode
    Self Publishing Success
    Selling Ebooks
    Selling Through Gumroad
    Selling Through Weebly
    Selling Through Your Weebly Site
    Sequel To Ten Twisted Tales
    Seriously?
    Shakespeare
    Shorstories Guru
    Short Stories
    Short Stories Guru
    Shortstories Guru
    Short Stories With Twists
    Should Have Vs Should Of
    Singapore
    Sixto Rodriguez
    Skin Bleach
    Skin Whitening
    Slander
    Somerset Maugham
    Southeast Asia
    Sperm Whales
    Statcounter
    Stephen King
    Steve Jobs
    Stpehen King
    Stupid Tourists
    Submitting To Amazon
    Submitting To Apple Vs Amazon
    Sucessful Writing
    Sugarman
    Swimming
    Tales With Twists
    Tamil Proverbs
    Target Audience At 20
    Ten Twisted Tales
    Ten Twisted Tales 5 Star Reviews
    The Sun Also Rises
    Things Have Changed
    Thumbprint
    Toc
    Tokyo
    Truth Adds Up To Lies
    Turn Of Phrase
    Unicorn And Wives
    Universe
    Violence
    Walls Of Wisdom
    Weebly
    Weebly Price Plans
    Weebly Site
    Weebly Vs Edicy
    Weebly Vs Jimdo
    Weebly Vs Squarespace
    Welcome Service
    Wenger
    Whale Watching
    Which Web Site Builder? Building Your Own Website
    Why Is My Facebook Target Audience At 20
    Why Weebly
    Why You Should Weebly
    Wisdom
    Word Abuse
    Writer's Block
    Writer's Morale
    Writing
    Writing Good Articles
    Writing Responsibly
    Writing Well
    Wwf
    Yada Yada
    Zen Koan

My other sites:  Music is about memories: http://radiomemories.blogspot.com, http://radiomemories.weebly.com/
A site dedicated to the genius of Kannadasan:http://kannadasansongs.blogspot.com 
 A travel blog: http://guruwanders.blogspot.com