Comments on: Tommy Tomlinson: making words work for a living

By: legal writing professor

legal writing professor — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:06:14 +0000

I share this lesson frequently with my first-year law students. They are currently learning how to write briefs for federal court. I keep circling cumbersome, fancy words and writing “plain English?” in the margins. The law and its application may be complex and nuanced, but my 1Ls need to communicate it in straightforward language that can be understood quickly.

By: Diane Stresing

Diane Stresing — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:36:46 +0000

Hear, hear.

Ideally, a 5th-grader will read and remember what you’ve written, Mr. Tomlinson. I have fond memories of reading The Columbus Dispatch from about that age.

I still remember some of the gems I picked up, like a quote from Abraham Lincoln: “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” I don’t recall what the article was about, but I internalized that quote and it has served me well for many years.

Come to think of it, Mr. Lincoln had a knack for simple language, and it served him quite well.

By: Lynn Wolf Dulcie

Lynn Wolf Dulcie — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:53:01 +0000

Tommy — Love your writing! I’m gonna share this piece with my creative writing/journalism/yearbook students at Rock Hill High School in SC. I hadn’t seen this until I got it on Connie Schultz’ FB site. (she and I worked together at the Daily Kent Stater in college — love her writing, too).
I agree wholeheartedly! My husband is an engineer — not a great novel reader — but he explains nuclear power and its plants in a way anyone can understand — I wish that were true of reporters covering the beat — we’d all be better off.
Thanks for your insight into good writing — it will serve my students well. Continued success — I love your columns in the Observer.
Lynn W. Dulcie

By: Tommy

Tommy — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:23:44 +0000

Amber, let me guess: College student?

By: Amber

Amber — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:15:38 +0000

It is not necessary to dumb down one’s language. When a complex word is used, any average person can comprehend its meaning by the context in which the word is used. Plain language is something the high school student uses, not a professional writer.

By: Nick Sortal

Nick Sortal — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:15:49 +0000

Funny you mention country music. When I’m in a slump (often), I listen to Toby Keith.

“Her bags are packed and ‘I ain’t comin’ back’ is written on them….”

Even scenes with zero action feel like they have action.

By: Cedar Posts

Cedar Posts — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:08:25 +0000

I get a lot of grief for using 400 words to say the sun came up.

But I’ve always written like Cormac McCarthy when I’m in the zone.

Even Pat Conroy’s new novel South of Broad, opening lines:

“It was my father who called the city the mansion on the river

He was talking about Charleston, South Carolina and he was a native son, peacock proud of a town so pretty it makes your eyes ache with pleasure just to walk down it spellbinding, narrow streets.”

Turns some people off as they are in a hurry and would prefer “it was a nice place”.

Conroy was offered a job as a reporter at Charleston’s News and Courier after graduating from The Citadel.

He remembers an editor warned him: “We’ll have to excavate your prose. You seem not to have ever learned the elegance of simplicity.”

So he passed on the job and went on to bigger things.

By: Deborah Bosley

Deborah Bosley — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:28:27 +0000

As a professor and a consultant, I am a fierce advocate for the use of plain language. There are few concepts that are too complex that they cannot be explained simply. It is much more difficult to write simply than it is to write sentences that confuse even the most educated among us. As citizens we have the right to understand information that affects our lives. We should refuse to sign any contract we don’t understand, demand that instructions be easy to follow, ask for written information from our healthcare providers, require that insurance companies write policies in a way that lets us know what’s covered and what’s not, and on and on. A recent study showed that 65% of Americans believe that financial institutions intentionally make information difficult to understand to keep consumers in the dark. The use of Plain Language is good for all of us: citizens and business alike. Some issues are very difficult to solve; this one is easy. But we have to demand it.

By: Write Like a Fifth Grader « Supraprint

Write Like a Fifth Grader « Supraprint — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:01:29 +0000

[...] Tomlinson of The Charlotte Observer. He shares his thoughts on using simple words in this post here., part of this newly-discovered Nieman Storyboard [...]

By: Nancy Posey

Nancy Posey — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:49:23 +0000

I agree. Years ago, I read a book on writing poetry by Judson Jerome, the late poetry editor for Writers Digest. He explained how poets best used those short Anglo-Saxon words instead of the fancy Latinate ones. The more I paid attention, the more I realized he was right. Simple is not simplistic.

I’m especially glad to see your mention of Jim the Boy. I keep recommending it to everyone. I wish he had chosen a cover that looked more like an adult book because I otherwise have to trick some people into reading it. I love the scene when his uncles slip him out of the house to watch the town electrify.