Learning new things about the world around us for work is so much fun. But what good is it if we don't share what we do and learn? Sometimes, the ideas are very long and hard to understand. And sometimes, we don't have words that bring together the new ideas we have learned. So we make new ones, and that is where we get "Jargon1โ. Jargon can help make sure everyone is clear about the new ideas. And as these are new ideas in one person's head, trying to get those ideas into another person's head, being clear is important. However, Jargon can also be used as a way to gatekeep2 or say that you are part of the group of people who are "elites3." And that's not great for sharing how important our new ideas are with the most number of people possible.
So while writing with such a small number of words is hard, it is a good way to work on taking down the gatekeeping and having more people learn about what we do and what we know. And if you are looking for a place to work on using simple words, check out our small part of the big meeting at EGU4. This small part only allows people to use the ten hundred most used words to talk about the things they study.
When I first tried to use only the ten hundred most used words to share what I do, I sounded like a person who came at the start of people (glad there are no movies of this). โ"I study things in space. Things in space are cool." I forgot that words like "the" were in the ten hundred most used words. But that was okay. It was fun and funny, and I got better at using simple words the more I tried.
Now, writing with simple words isn't always going to make for the best writing or speaking. But it does help us to think about what we say and how we say it. You might never use these simple words when you write or talk about work, but it gives you new ideas for sharing your work so more people can get it.
So why not try it at this yearโs EGU? Join our meeting and put in an abstract5 at https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/session/52032
This was written using https://splasho.com/upgoer5/.
First word outside of the 1000 most used words.
Second word outside of the 1000 most used words.
Third word outside of the 1000 most used words .
Some consider okay to use as itโs a proper nounโฆ but otherwise, 4th word outside of the 1000 most used words.
Fourth or fifth word outside of the 1000 most used words