Recently, I was listening to someone speak to a group of grade school children and was struck by how many words and phrases the kids likely had no idea of their meaning.
Even if you speak clearly and slowly, a six-year-old will probably not understand the phrase “Take the left fork in the road,” and much less “substitutionary atonement.”
It’s in the same communication category as traveling to another country. Rather than learning the language and culture, speak loudly and slowly, “I NEED TO FIND SOME TOOTHPASTE FOR SENSITIVE TEETH. DO YOU KNOW WHERE I CAN FIND THE NEAREST WALGREENS?”
A few years ago, I reread a best-selling Christian book from the early 1980s and had to chuckle at how many irrelevant examples it had. The Vietnam War, Walter Cronkite said this, Walter Mondale said that, Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H did something funny, etc.
Those examples didn’t age well for anyone after Boomers. Or the 80s.
In fact, most writing doesn’t age well. The language used to communicate relevance to a group of people during a certain period has an “irrelevance timer” started upon publication. Once it counts down to zero, it doesn’t explode; it just stops selling.
It’s one of the reasons so many books have a relatively short shelf life. (Shelf life? What’s that?)
It is also why Bible translations are constantly being updated to reflect new language, as well as changes in grammar and punctuation standards.
Similarly, we wrongfully assume that everyone knows what we are talking about.
A research study done in the 1990s by Christian publishers in cooperation with Christian bookstores in the US asked shoppers about the name recognition of various Christian authors. At that time, the most recognized Christian author was Billy Graham.
And while Dr. Graham was the most recognized among a list of Christian authors, a third of Christian bookstore shoppers had never heard of him. Imagine how that has changed in the last 25-30 years!
Do not automatically assume everyone knows what and who you are talking about in your book.
Anything rooted in popular culture, politics, technology, or entertainment is on a slippery slide toward unrecognizability.
It could be one reason why period fiction, historical nonfiction, biblical exposition, or other types of writing that capture a period or context frozen in time tend to outlast books written for today and not tomorrow.
If you are writing about current-day issues, effective communication gets down to the word and phrase level. Don’t assume everyone knows what certain idioms mean and, for Christian writers, that everyone understands theological terms and differences between various Christian groups.
It’s also recommended that even though you know who Billy Graham is, you might want to give a quick history lesson while referencing him.
I started this post by mentioning communicating effectively (or not) with children. Those who write and communicate effectively for various young age groups have a better grasp of this concept than most. The choice of words matters.
Thinking about reader comprehension more than what you want to write solves much of this problem.
Write to be understood.
