Avoid Five-Dollar Words

Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy, ready and able.

The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White

Some writers think that they need to break out the thesaurus every time they write a sentence. These writers believe that the longer, more obscure, or more unusual sounding a word is, the more intelligent it will make the writer appear to his or her reader. In fact, simpler language is often a better choice. The goal of all writing—and particularly writing for the communications field—is to communicate your ideas clearly and efficiently. Your goal should be to sound like yourself (the most professional and polished version of yourself), or, in some cases, like the voice of your organization or client.

In his well-titled paper, Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly, Daniel M. Oppenheimer (2006) conducted a series of experiments to show that when what he refers to as "million dollar words" are added to a text, they "[do] not cause an essay’s author to seem more intelligent… the opposite appears to be true" (p. 142).  Oppenheimer writes that for readers, "Complexity neither disguised the shortcomings of poor essays, nor enhanced the appeal of high-quality essays," (p. 142) going on to describe this effect as "extremely robust" (p. 151).

This is not to say that you can't ever use "big" words. Your goal should be to use the right word in the right place; there are times when words like grandiloquent, loquacious, or phantasmagorical will add color and character to your writing. What you don't want to do is use those types of words because you think they make you sound sophisticated. You can still reach for the thesaurus, but sparingly. Never use a word if you aren't sure what it means, if you've never heard it before, or if it sounds or looks out of place with the rest of your text.

The following table shows examples of bloated writing cut down to size.

From Five Dollars to 10 Cents

Inflated sentence

More effective revision

The team utilized philanthropist funding to meet their outreach objectives.

The team used philanthropist funding to meet their outreach objectives.

Sarah should commence working by the beginning of April.

Sarah should start working by the beginning of April.

Bruce was cognizant of the value-add of the new organizational paradigm.

Bruce saw the value of the organizational changes.

The firm wanted to achieve synergy with its partner along innovative dimensions.

The firm wanted to work with its partner to develop ideas.

References

Oppenheimer, D. M. (2006). Consequences of erudite vernacular utilized irrespective of necessity: Problems with using long words needlessly. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 139–156. Retrieved from http://www.ucd.ie/artspgs/semantics/ConsequencesErudite.pdf