insteadofvery.com
Built it using OpenAI, FastAPI, and MongoDB (to cache the results).
I can't stand people who care about this stuff. The purpose of language is communication. If you understood what was said, the language used did it's job. Those alternatives to very are valid and if your intent is precision then I can see why you would use them. But my counter argument is, "very" is understood by a wider audience and is less confusing.
The same reasoning applies in programming does it not? Is it not considered good coding practice to use syntax and features that are easily understood by junior devs? Shouldn't complex syntax and features be used sparingly where needed?
When is superb required over "very nice"?
The reality is that language does have rules and for good reason. But grammar nazis use their superior knowledge of those rules to gatekeep random things and use those rules to manipulate others to their advantage.
Using rarely used words in a langauge is just as bad as using jargon or rare dialects.
If a random 2.0 gpa highschool kid can understand you. Your vocabulary is perfect.
Even better is to avoid the adjective entirely, unless that is precisely what you want. Usually a poet will want to stir the emotion, which is better shown than told. You have to dig really deep to find a way to express what that sadness means, which will usually not involve the word "sad" at all. Use of the word "very" is a strong hint that you have more to say by phrasing it entirely differently.
He's right about the wooing women, though. Not literally, but that's the right way to teach teenage boys. Women dig men who communicate well.
Your response makes me think of Kevin from the office... “Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick"
Yes, the point of language is communication, but why limit yourself? Elevate your vocabulary! Eloquence is enjoyable. Increased nuance adds depth to expression. Instead of relying on vanilla words like "very," embrace the richness of language.
To me complaining about very is some sort of cringey pseudointelligent competition.
In many cases trying to use something else instead of very will add some weird implication or undertone that makes the meaning seem unnecessarily different.
Don't make language more complicated than it needs to be.
If you are writing to sound eloquent and for the joy of writing then you are not who I am talking about. For most people, especially in a work setting, communication is the goal, to make sure you are understood well.
There is a famous story of a british platoon in ww2 I think calling for US navy support and saying something like "we are in a bit of trouble" or something like that, the US navy commander thought that meant they need help but not urgently so they were deprioritized and died. If both sides used simple and well understood language it would have been avoided. Your eloquence or someone else's use of jargon, jive, localized english,etc... is a miscommunication liability.
And isn't it a bit patronizing to assume that English learners want to settle for being understood rather than being felt?
My comment was for english speakers as a whole not just learners.
Superb Owl season!
Mark Twain
- editor of someone who was probably not Mark Twain
Oh, and heads up, right now looking up anything with a forward slash (/) fails with an Internal Server Error and no output to the end user.
"My dick is onerous" might have been a phrase construct that went through my mind.
I mean, if it’s going to suggest using “very” instead of “very” … shrug
> The party was enjoyable.
Instead of fun this has slight implication to me that it was possible to enjoy it, but as if it wasn't fun just naturally. Like you had to actively put in effort to enjoy it.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/katelee/2012/11/30/mark-twain-o...
“Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”
- Mark Twain
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/2913-substitute-damn-every-...
https://www.marktwainproject.org/xtf/view?docId=letters/UCCL...
Did you read my links? Mark Twain isn’t talking only about the word “very” either.
> I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English—it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them—then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.