During one game, we had just given up eight
runs in one inning. We finally got the third out and headed back to the dugout.
Our assistant coach, a man in his early 20s, looked down disgustedly at his
scorebook and said in a sharp tone, “They scored eight runs – all unearned!”
I remember thinking: “Unearned? Looks like they earned them to me.”
If the coach thought we knew what “unearned
run” meant, he was greatly mistaken. I could tell that my teammates had no clue
what the term meant – nor did they care; most were more interested in going to
the water fountain or in who was up to bat next.
The lesson? Know your audience. Sure, the coach
was using a baseball term with baseball players, and that sounds appropriate.
But, he didn’t consider what kind of players we were: little kids with the
attention spans of kittens.
Always keep in mind – and assume – that although
you understand what you’re writing, your audience might not. Beware of using
jargon, technical terms and $10 words. It’s fine to use some of these if you
know your audience is comfortable with the subject matter and the lingo, such
as an audience of stock brokers listening to a stock expert. But be careful
with more general audiences of newspapers, magazines and websites.
Keep things simple. The rule I was taught in
journalism school and during my 25 years of working in newspapers is to write
at a level an eighth-grader can understand.
So remember, expecting your readers or
listeners, especially general audiences, to understand and care about your
complex word usage is wishful thinking. Using high-minded words and coming off
sounding highly intelligent means nothing if your audience has tuned you out.
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