[mopierotti]

It's clever that the the author provides both his essay and an example at the same time! Sorry, that joke felt obligatory.

Miscellaneous reactions, in an elegant bulleted list:

- "Simple" sentences are certainly expressive, but "elegant" wording expands the set of meanings that can be conveyed. And vice-versa

- I think a lot of the meat of a sentence is conveyed in the connotations of words and not their literal meaning. "Simple" wording is necessarily more common, and therefore will necessarily have a less specific or reliable connotation. This is a blessing and a curse.

- More subjectively, I think ideal writing is also a window into the author's experience of the world (or moreso whatever topic they're writing about), and as a reader, I want that to come through in an authentic way that matches the author's experience. So, using a thesaurus and agonizing over sentence structure might end up 'elegant' but still vaguely bad, but on the other hand if you agonize over a sentence and come up with something more "sophisticated" that ultimately rings truer to you, then go for it.

- ^ The above points aren't direct rebuttals to TFA, but I think they relate to why elegance can be appealing.

[chvgchvg]

Yes I agree, different words do hold different meanings, and less common words hold less specific meanings, and I love reading well crafted, elegant writing. I agree with your point. I guess I'm pouring out my hate on "fake crafted elegance". Like the one you mentioned: "using a thesaurus and agonizing over sentence structure" ONLY for the purpose of making it "sound" better. Not to make it sound truer to you, but to make it sound better to the ears.

[mopierotti]

Thanks for the response! I hear what you're saying, and I apologize for my joke.

I re-read your essay, and what you say about needing sophistication reminds me of the concept of proof-of-work -- "sophistication" could be a way to convey that effort was spent by a writer, even if it doesn't add meaning. That is kind of inherently annoying, because it implies a lack of trust between the author and reader, and in the thesaurus example, the reader would be rightfully annoyed to spent time parsing a sentence only to find that the "proof of effort" was actually just a "facade of effort".