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Re:Crystal promises to help you understand how best to talk ... by gopher2 on Friday April 24, 2015 @03:34PM (#9435570)
This is neat. Reminds me of http://www.hemingwayapp.com

Anyone aware of other stuff like this or want to shamelessly promote something? I'm interested.

Re:Crystal promises to help you understand how best to talk ... by vilhelm_s on Friday April 24, 2015 @04:00PM (#9435690)
Heh, Hemingway is a cute idea, I had not seen that before.

It seems a bit miscalibrated though. I tried pasting in the current front-page article from The Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/24/obama-drone-str...), and it becomes almost completely red ("27 out of 37 sentences are very hard to read"). If it categorizes ordinary newspaper prose as "very hard", I wonder what kind of audience it is aimed at.

Re:Crystal promises to help you understand how best to talk ... by jeorgun on Friday April 24, 2015 @04:11PM (#9435751)
I can't help but be reminded Mark Libermans's assessment of the app (http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=10416).
Re:Crystal promises to help you understand how best to talk ... by cbd1984 on Friday April 24, 2015 @08:35PM (#9436683)
> 1 adverbs. Aim for 0 or fewer.

Yes, the app is apparently quite insane.

It's classic Strunk & White nonsense, the idea that simpler (even to the point of being simplistic) is always, always, always better, founded on the unfounded idea that removing words is the only way to linguistic correctness.

http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/2549...

Re:Crystal promises to help you understand how best to talk ... by Balgair on Friday April 24, 2015 @05:07PM (#9436018)
Eh, I think the app is a good first pass for many people. Use it and the Up Goer Five editor as a way to generate ideas for how to shorten and increase readability of your work. I find it very useful when using scientific writing in order to recheck your work for ease of communication.

http://splasho.com/upgoer5/

Re:Crystal promises to help you understand how best to talk ... by Tossrock on Friday April 24, 2015 @04:22PM (#9435797)
Reminds me of the CASIE social enhancer augmentation from the Deus Ex video game: http://deusex.wikia.com/wiki/Social_Enhancer

The augmentation shows you the personality type of the person you're talking to and suggests the best way to get them to do what you want, cajole/reason/appeal to authority, etc.

Re:Crystal promises to help you understand how best to talk ... by huahaiy on Friday April 24, 2015 @07:43PM (#9436554)