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twanvl comments on The Up-Goer Five Game: Explaining hard ideas with simple words - Less Wrong Discussion
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Does it really simplify things if you replace "limit" with "thing-it-goes-to" and theorem with "idea-you-can-show-is-true-with-numbers"? IMO this is a big problem with the up-goer five style text: you can still try to use complex concepts by combining words. And because you have to describe the concept with inadequate words, it becomes actually harder to understand what you really mean.
There are two purposes of writing simple English: * writing for children * writing for non-native speakers
In both cases is "sun-colored stuff that comes out of the ground" really the way you would explain it? I would sooner say something like: "yellow is the color of the sun, it looks like <this>. People like shiny yellow metal called gold, because there is little of it".
I suppose the actual reason we are doing this is * artificially constrained writing is fun.
"give them a line" and "be cross with you" are expressions that make no sense with the literal interpretation of these words.
Using the most common 1,000 words is not really about simplifying or clarifying things. It's about imposing an arbitrary restriction on something you think you're familiar with, and seeing how you cope with it.
There are merits to doing this beyond "it's fun". When all your technical vernacular is removed, you can't hide behind terms you don't completely understand.
In fact, I'm not sure what "give them a line" means. Give them a line like this ------------- instead of a box? From context, it could also mean 'just make something up'. (English is not my first language, in case you couldn't tell.)
**googles**
Yes, it turns out that "give someone a line" can mean "to lead someone on; to deceive someone with false talk" (or "send a person a brief note or letter", but that doesn't make sense in this context).
Still can't tell which type of line is meant.
I was quoting a single sentence of my mini-essay. "Give them a line" probably doesn't make much sense out of context.
The original context was that a line segment is a degenerate case of a rectangle (one with zero width). You can absolutely say a line segment is a rectangle (albeit a degenerate case of one). However, if your partner really wanted a rectangle for their birthday, and you got them a line segment, they may very well be super-pissed with you, even if you're using the same definition of "line segment" and "rectangle".
If you're not using the same definition, or even if you're simply unsure whether you're using the same definition, then when you get your rectangle-wanting partner a line segment for their birthday, not only would they be pissed with you, but you may also be factually incorrect in your assertion that the line segment is a rectangle for all salient purposes.
There's also several meanings of "box", such as:
... and the various Urban Dictionary senses, too.
(Heck, if one of my partners talked about getting a box, it might mean a booster box of Magic cards.)