The above is from a chat that I was recently part of.
When people use words like:
- amazing
- awesome
- cool
- fantastic
- great
- impressive
- love
- passion
- super
- unstoppable
...in chats, we keep egging each other on: superlatives become normal in a way that's excruciatingly stupid and words like 'cool' mean nothing as they lack context that makes the 'why' completely opaque to everybody, including the person who wrote those obtuse words.
If you enter a chat like the one above and you'd like to write 'I think X's presentation was nice and clear' you might not, from fear of sounding sombre, as if you're not as enthusiastic as the rest of the chatters. So you might write 'I think X's presentation was great!!!' and fire off.
Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke in Before Sunrise.
Hold up.
Consider what you write and what's written by others.
'Great' can mean many a thing. If the word isn't contextualised, it could mean nothing, especially when it's used in a throwaway or—even worse—copycat fashion.
A slew of 'Great work!' and 'That was great!' won't win you a clarity award.
What you say will even be skipped or quickly forgotten: people are far less likely to listen to you if you repeat buzzwords or say other stuff without true meaning.
Try to remember looking into the eyes of your beloved. Recall how you desperately tried to seem inventive when you wrote a book report in sixth form. Think of your last vacation when you felt rested and looked at something you loved and wanted to describe your feelings to somebody else.
Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy in Before Sunset.
If you describe a systems demonstration as 'fantastic', and only that, you cannot possibly be thinking; Is that truly how you want to be remembered?
Guess why people love Richard Linklater's trilogy of Before films. Check out the trailer above if you've not seen any of them.
It's not because of the wondrous and evocative actors, nor the apt soundtrack, or the director's radiant style.
It's because the dialogue is poignant.
Or, to use a less hoity-toity lingo: the characters speak like people do, and they make you listen because what they say invokes meaning.
Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke in Before Midnight.
You remember things because they mean something to you.
When you use superlatives to describe stuff without care, people just switch off, especially when your superlatives lack context. What's so great with just saying something's 'great'? What's 'fantastic' about the presentation? What—prey tell—is from the realm of the fantastic to the degree that you feel compelled to use that word?
If you don't know what to say, please say nothing rather than spout torpid shite.
This reminds me of a skit by Louis C.K.:
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://niklasblog.com/?p=24853