Interesting Story...

Big Words Make You Look Dumb?
from the Consequences-of-Erudite-Vernacular-Utilized-Irrespective-of-Necessity dept
When I was in junior high school, I had a teacher who tried to encourage students to expand their vocabulary. What she did was encourage students to try out "new words" in any papers they wrote for the class. However, because students aren't always comfortable with those words, we were told to write (new word) after the new word -- parenthetically pointing out that we knew that word might be awkward or flat out wrong. Ever since then, however, I tend to notice when writers use a "big" word where a small one would do and mentally add the (new word) marking to it. According to a new study, I may not be the only one. People notice when writers use large words where small ones will do -- and it doesn't make them think very highly of the writer. In fact, all those attempts to look smart tend to backfire and make people think you're even dumber. It's probably a case where the general awkwardness of the larger words make people feel that the writer is trying too hard. Of course, Clive Thompson (who we link to for this story) has another explanation. He feels that the test, which was done by simply swapping out actual simple words with thesaurus-picked complex ones, modified the original meaning just enough that it didn't feel right -- making people think the writer was less intelligent when, perhaps, a natural writer could use larger words effectively in writing the entire sentence. Perhaps it really depends on the context. In certain types of writing, short words just make more sense than others.

I can attest to this as well. There's a blog that I occasionally glance at and when I'm reading it I get a sense that he tried too hard. Anyway, I'm left in the dust not really understanding his point, because of the big words and funky sentence structure. That's not to say my comprehension level is low. I don't think it's too low. In fact, I once took a test and found that I should be able to comprehend anything. Maybe the test was wrong.

Treehouse living...

Today a quick summary of what I've been reading and possibly even learning. I picked up the book "Wild At Heart" by John Eldredge a few weeks ago. I've listened to it before on CD, but this time I thought I should read it.
I tell ya, I've picked up a lot more stuff just by reading it instead of listening to it. That's not to say that listening to a book is a bad thing. I think it's a great time saver and it almost could lead to a better comprehension of the book if something is listened to then read.

Anyway, one thought, out of the many the book has brought up, comes to mind tonight. A part of the book speaks to living the Christian life as if we were a branch and Jesus is the trunk. Basically, we are supposed to be as dependent on Jesus as a branch is to it's trunk. Meaning, we are supposed to be SUPER dependent on Jesus. Like a branch, most things get filtered up through the trunk and then to the branches. If I'm not living like a branch then I'm not living like a Christian. Oh, and the body of Christ is His church and that's where I get the treehouse idea from.

Anyway, it strikes me how much we may get caught up in our set ways of what we think a Christian should act like or living moral and claim that as living like a Christian, but really we're so not acting like a branch. We're living off our own desires and thoughts of what a Christian is.

So this begs the question. What does it look like to live like a branch? This goes into Don Miller's book "Searching For God Knows What" where he goes on to explain that having morals is a byproduct of our relationship with Jesus. Morals do not come first. It's our desire to live based upon our love for and relationship with God. A lot of people today have traded this away it seems for the old way, myself included. I want to be a branch... I think. This goes into the whole easier, but harder, burden is light, but bear your cross thing.

I'm not going to go into this a great deal tonight, but I wanted to paste this little blurb in here from donmillerfans.net. Don gives a glimpse of how he lives a life of Christian Spirituality:

?? discipline in Christian spirituality ??
Filed under: Don Answers your ???s — bryan @ 11:27 am
Hey Don,
A friend gave me a copy of your Blue Like Jazz last semester and I ended up reading it in a matter of hours. I enjoyed the book a lot because it provoked me to think freshly about my faith and because it gave me a reason to sit around drinking coffee when I should have been studying for my final exams. Afterwards I talked about the book on my blog a lot.

I’m curious what your take is on “discipline” in the Christian life. Jazz didn’t strike me as being against spiritual discipline (as in 1 Corinthians 9), but with the anti-“fundamentalist” chapter, the jazz motif (“never resolves”), the hippy perspective, and the good emphasis on authenticity, it seems like the book tends toward a more relaxed, off-the-cuff approach to knowing God.

My question is, what’s the place of discipline, i.e. strenuous obedience to God, in Christian spirituality?
Also, if you wouldn’t mind, would you elaborate on your NCAA hoops loyalties? That will help me decide how high you place on the scale of cool.

ariel,
i tend to avoid ritual because it tempts me to replace “action” with devotion. the two can go hand in hand, but they are more comfortable separated. while disciplines help us love God, they are also the ego’s favorite food. instead, i try to ask myself fairly often how i feel about God, and if the answer is a negative, i do some praying and soul searching. i’m no expert, i assure you, but thanks for trusting me with the question.
don
p.s. ncaa hoops: oregon, gonzaga, north carolina.

Baby Got Bible...

Ok I saw this off of Grace's blog. I can't resist. This is the best thing I've seen in awhile. It is so freaking funny!

Check this out:
http://www.devilducky.com/media/25512/

There's a video with sound.

Beer Personality...

You Are Heineken

You appreciate a good beer, but you're not a snob about it. You like your beer mild and easy to drink, so you can concentrate on being drunk. Overall, you're a friendly drunk who's likely to buy a whole round for your friends... many times. Sometimes you can be a bit boring when you drink. You may be prone to go on about topics no one cares about.

What's Your Beer Personality?