Should we use simple words when possible?

Question

In this answer, Liam W said [emphasis added]

'A Japanese' infers the Japanese person is a thing, and not a person. This is what deems it offensive.

'A Japanese Person' infers the Japanese person is just that - a person, and is therefore considered fine for use.

While not wanting to go this far in using simple words, should we try to use simple and common words that are easily understood by people learning English?

An exception to this would be technical terms to do with English, such as "split infinitive". They should still be used, because it is easier to google for "split infinitive" than "boldly putting a word between "to" and the verb".

Answer 1

Any time we write, we should keep our audience in mind. Writing simply and clearly is always a good writer's goal – no matter what they are writing about, and no matter who they are writing to.

As I write on ELL, I'll be assuming that the primary audience is intelligent adults; I plan to write accordingly. That said, I'm also aware that many members of this community speak English as a second or third language, so I'll try to be careful to clarify terms that might be hard to interpret.

That said, I think we do a disservice to the members here if we try to oversimplify the words we use. Presumably, many of them are here to improve their English. I always avoided "baby talk" when my children were younger, figuring that if I always spoke to them as if their vocabulary was limited, their vocabulary would remain limited. In a similar way, I don't think we should worry too much about restricting our language to "simple words." Deliberately using esoteric vocabulary would be a mistake, too, but that's true whenever and wherever we write.

Answer 2

Do not avoid them in contexts where the meaning can be inferred from that context. That is the best way for users to learn them!

OTOH, definitely avoid them if not knowing their meaning will make given answer confusing - when the meaning is not apparent. Alternatively, reiterate, rephrase the same thing using simpler terms to make it clear.

In the example case both bolded words are used in context that makes their meaning fairly apparent, so there is no harm in leaving them in.

Answer 3

I think we should use technical terms, but make sure that they are explained, and not go too overboard to the point of making the answer sound like it came from an academic journal.

Answer 4

I think that the example is a borderline case:

Certainly, the content could be expressed elegantly enough without using the words "infer" and "deem". They do not add better precision or explanation.

On the other hand, for me, the answer (and the question) was new and surprising and I really learned something, and yet I have no problems whatsoever with words like "infer" and "deem".

So, I would advice that one should use words that are understood by most people who would actually be interested in the answer to the question, but this is probably the case here.

Answer 5

Yes, where possible, I think it is best to answer with the simplest words available. Use simpler sentence structures, and a smaller range of words. But I would suggest that technical terms to do with grammar should be used freely, since that is what people are often here to learn about.

The particular example given is just bad though: infers and deems are used incorrectly.

Answer 6

Coming to think of it and now that I have been using this site for almost three days, it makes sense to me that simple language should be highly preferred here simply because of the fact that we can expect to see "a lot" of foreign-language visitors here and more we make it simple for them to "comprehend the answer" more the better.