Ask HN: Why don't web browsers discourage words that not everyone will know?

Re:Ask HN: Why don't web browsers discourage words that not ... by daenz on Sunday August 14, 2022 @02:38PM (#32461700)

50% of Americans can't read a book written at an 8th grade reading level[0]. It's one of the reasons politicians don't use jargon and fancy words. I think they'd probably laugh if you told them they should be talking above their constituents' understanding.

0. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/11/...

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Re:Ask HN: Why don't web browsers discourage words that not ... by na85 on Sunday August 14, 2022 @03:00PM (#32461895)

Seems to me the solution to that problem is to fix the problems with American schools that produce such illiterate citizens, rather than continue dumbing everything down.

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Re:Ask HN: Why don't web browsers discourage words that not ... by the_only_law on Sunday August 14, 2022 @03:37PM (#32462224)

When I was in school, the kids that had the best grades and were in all the good programs always ended up reading. aloud. like. this.

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Re:Ask HN: Why don't web browsers discourage words that not ... by na85 on Sunday August 14, 2022 @05:22PM (#32463051)

I don't know what that means.

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Re:Ask HN: Why don't web browsers discourage words that not ... by frumper on Sunday August 14, 2022 @03:39PM (#32462231)

No one said an author shouldn’t choose what words to write. They are astonished people want browsers to choose. If politicians want a to use simple words, good for them.

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Re:Ask HN: Why don't web browsers discourage words that not ... by happytoexplain on Sunday August 14, 2022 @03:31PM (#32462170)

This is a reason to use more (appropriate/useful) words, not fewer. Politics is one of the few contexts where you are explicitly addressing the largest and most horizontally sampled set of people possible. Politicians speak that way out of necessity.

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