unexplainable
the things that are hard to explain in words
sari and
unexplainable
Reaching wide audiences requires all-terrain language, and the urgency of the present moment, amplified by chronological feeds, doesn’t allow for much stylistic variety. Efficiency is key — compressing as much information as possible to the least amount of words is the ideal of all communication.
While I do agree that many areas of interaction, like... See more
While I do agree that many areas of interaction, like... See more
it feels like trying to explain a garden with a calculator
Many people who are talented in their various fields have access to insight they can’t share with others. They simply see something we can’t. They try to describe it—picture any Paris Review interview—and often hearing them talk about their process is interesting and informative. But they’re unable to describe the core thing—what gives them the... See more
Ava • inarticulable knowledge
“I dream of lost vocabularies that might express some of what we no longer can.”
― Jack Gilbert, The Great Fires
New discoveries often have to be conceived initially as variations of existing things,
even by their discoverers
, because there isn't yet the conceptual vocabulary to express them.
even by their discoverers
, because there isn't yet the conceptual vocabulary to express them.
Paul Graham • How to Do Great Work
"How to clarify a concept you can't articulate:
1. Change mediums. Draw it. Photograph it. Sing it.
2. Change levels. Explain what is one level up (bigger picture) or one level down (finer details).
3. Change fields. What would this concept look like in different fields?"
(James Clear newsletter)
“The next _____”
“[existing thing] (eg Uber) for x”
Almost always wrong and uninteresting
Build something that can’t be easily analogized
Patrick OShaughnessytwitter.combuild something you can't easily put into words
björk said that trying to communicate through talking feels like trying to put the ocean through a straw
Articulating ideas as simply as possible is attractive, not least because getting people to agree with us is attractive. But we have a tendency to overrate ideas that can be shared easily, with the most apparent advantages. By constant simplifying, we may be lulled into abridging our own ideas a little too much, and sooner or later our audience—or... See more