“What does it mean to ‘write like you talk’?” by Arjun Panickssery

People often say to “write like you talk.” Paul Graham has a post titled “Write Like You Talk” where he says explicitly that written language is worse than spoken language because

1. “Written language is more complex, which makes it more work to read”
2. “It's also more formal and distant, which gives the reader's attention permission to drift”
3. “The complex sentences and fancy words give you, the writer, the false impression that you’re saying more than you actually are”

He gives concrete advice: “Before I publish a new essay, I read it out loud and fix everything that doesn't sound like conversation. … [If you have] writing so far removed from spoken language that it couldn't be fixed sentence by sentence … try explaining to a friend what you just wrote. Then replace the draft with what you said to your friend.”

In “Politics and the English Language,” Orwell [...]

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First published:

May 15th, 2025

Source:

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/TECaEvFeRdjaYK7sM/what-does-it-mean-to-write-like-you-talk

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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