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JAMESBJOHNSON

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KEEP IT SIMPLE SR71PLT!

Just read plenny of criticisms of Owebama's SOTU speech, especially its 8th grade reading level. But whats wrong with that!

Rudolf Fleisch and Robert Gunning determined that most Americans use 3000 common words for 98% of what they write or speak. Half the time Americans get by with just 50 common words. Dogs know about 200 words.

Beyond the 8th grade level most vocabulary increases repeat the simpler information using longer words; that is, a longer word is no improvement over a shorter word, its just longer. LMAO
 
He probably used simple terms because of the audience. Although with the Tea Party congress maybe he wanted to challenge their vocabulary. :)
 
He probably used simple terms because of the audience. Although with the Tea Party congress maybe he wanted to challenge their vocabulary. :)

Dear, sometimes you remind me of the trolls you whine about.
 
Rudolf Fleisch and Robert Gunning determined that most Americans use 3000 common words for 98% of what they write or speak. Half the time Americans get by with just 50 common words. Dogs know about 200 words.

I believe that. Most human conversation is brief and about mundane topics so there is no real need for sophistication.

If Obama stepped it up over the alleged 8th grade level he would just lose some peoples attention and probably not gain much in return.

The only argument for using grade 8+ would be to appeal to a more intelligent audience, assuming they bothered to watch, though they are a minority anyway.
 
I believe that. Most human conversation is brief and about mundane topics so there is no real need for sophistication.

If Obama stepped it up over the alleged 8th grade level he would just lose some peoples attention and probably not gain much in return.

The only argument for using grade 8+ would be to appeal to a more intelligent audience, assuming they bothered to watch, though they are a minority anyway.

Most of the vocabulary we acquire after the 8th grade is specialized jargon for specific subjects, and much of it never comes up in general conversation. And the further we go in school the less new vocabulary matters outside of work.

Math works the same way. At the end of 8th grade you know about all the math youre ever gonna use.
 
Most of the vocabulary we acquire after the 8th grade is specialized jargon for specific subjects, and much of it never comes up in general conversation. And the further we go in school the less new vocabulary matters outside of work.

Math works the same way. At the end of 8th grade you know about all the math youre ever gonna use.

I am not exactly sure where Grade 8 is at anymore but the basics appear early and from there on its a matter of developing language and math skills and opening up some new branches.

In any case speaking to the Grade 8/middle of the Bell curve makes good political sense, deliver to the numbers.
 
I am not exactly sure where Grade 8 is at anymore but the basics appear early and from there on its a matter of developing language and math skills and opening up some new branches.

In any case speaking to the Grade 8/middle of the Bell curve makes good political sense, deliver to the numbers.

Everyone who matters reads at an 8th grade level or above. Below 8th grade are the folks in prison or the state home.
 
Rudolf Fleisch and Robert Gunning determined that most Americans use 3000 common words for 98% of what they write or speak. Half the time Americans get by with just 50 common words. Dogs know about 200 words.

Beyond the 8th grade level most vocabulary increases repeat the simpler information using longer words; that is, a longer word is no improvement over a shorter word, its just longer. LMAO

The overall decline in vocabulary usage and reading comprehension in this country brings to mind the 'Newspeak' language in George Orwell's '1984'. The ruling elite fostered a drastic simplification of the language used to communicate with the masses ('Doubleplusungood' for instance). Lacking any eloquence in expressing themselves prevented any 'dangerous' thoughts, thus rendering them docile and compliant.

Look through a McGuffey Reader sometime to see what children had to learn in the 1800's.;)
 
The overall decline in vocabulary usage and reading comprehension in this country brings to mind the 'Newspeak' language in George Orwell's '1984'. The ruling elite fostered a drastic simplification of the language used to communicate with the masses ('Doubleplusungood' for instance). Lacking any eloquence in expressing themselves prevented any 'dangerous' thoughts, thus rendering them docile and compliant.

Look through a McGuffey Reader sometime to see what children had to learn in the 1800's.;)

I have some letters written by a teen relative circa 1849, and no teens or many adults write so well today, and he was home-schooled on the farm. Then there's Abe Lincoln's example.
 
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