Easy = True Duh.

Posted by Ron B'Jergendy | Posted in

After reading the article, Easy = True, my only response is duh. Why wouldn't people tend to choice the things that they are familiar with or think is easier? When you have to follow directions and the directions are harder read, the task is going to seem harder to complete. When your presented with something multiple times you are going to prefer it. I am an Engineering Major, if I am shown how to do a problem one time and get confronted with a similar problem, I am going to solve it the same way as the previous problem because I am familiar with it even if there is a much simpler way. Why, because I know it is reliable. The main thing I got out of this article is that if I want to make a point in my writing, I should make it easy to understand and relate it to something people are familiar with. I do not like how this article makes this idea seem so ground breaking a new. People like what is easier and people like what they are familiar with, this isn't rocket science.

You know what I'm sayin'?

Posted by eriku | Posted in

No, I do not know what you're "sayin'" when when you ask me questions or use phrases or words that do not make sense.
"Whats good?"
First of all, what would be an answer to this question, "everything", "nothing", am I supposed to explain each factor that is good or bad in my life? My answer would most likely be "huh?". I now know that "Whats good?" means "Whats up?" from the one who asked the question, which also does not make sense. If someone wants to know how I am, they could ask "How are you?" or "What are you doing?" instead of asking nonsensical questions.
"Where you at?"
"Where are you?" would be an easier question to understand and answer, but Boost mobile ads promoted this phrase and now it is too commonly heard among phone conversations and in text messages.
"supposed" v. "suppose" and "used" v. "use"
I know that many people drop the 'd' at the end of used and supposed because of the following 't' sound, but I cannot help how much this bothers me
"lol", "nm", "omg", and other instant/text message shorthand
Messaging phrases are useful when actually messaging, but when they are used in face-to-face conversations it crosses the line.

And although nonsensical phrases and words bother me, I cannot disagree that when used correctly, they can add to the musicality or coloration of the words. So although, I may know "what you're sayin'", it still annoys me.

Response to "Easy=True"

Posted by Sunloooo | Posted in

To begin with, I have to give credits to the title of the article. As far as the content concerns, the title does demonstrate how a simple and catchy phrase like itself tends to convince the readers. I do agree with what Drake Bennett suggested in the research to a certain extent, but I think we do need to consider the context to approve the theory.

I feel that the article fell into the fallacy of equivocation when it went back and forth between “easy” and “familiar” among different research. It is true that we tend to believe in the things that we are familiar with. It is not uncommon to buy things that we have heard of when we choose products. We behave so not for the sake of our appreciation to familiarity, but in the situations that require information to make decision, familiarity implies information to a certain extent. However, easiness might be part of the correlation, or might not. In certain context, short and catchy phrases are easy for us to remember and grow familiarity; in other occasions, a little complexity would be appreciated to make an impression. The most straightforward example is the fashion trend. There are times when fanciful colored dress that would catch attention and there are days when simple white shirts appear to be cool, depending on what the rest of the people wear on the street wear. So instead of saying easiness leads to memory retention and leads us to do things, it seems to me more accurate to conclude that people tend to remember things that are different from the rest, no matter it is easier or more complicated.

The point of “disfluency” is an interesting one. If you think about it, those simple terms that are easy to remember are also easy to forget. Just think about our names. Often times, we are concerned about complicated names that would give people a hard time to remember, but once people get it, it is hard to forget. Use the example of one of our classmates, Adan (hope you don’t mind), it is an easy-pronounce-name, so it is easy to remember; at the same time, it also requires a little processing to notice the “n” instead of “m” as the usual “ Adam” is, and that is what makes it hard to forget. If the advertisers are really looking to make a quick impression and also interest the audience, I think that is the strategy it should approach—easy but different, a combination of fluency and disfluency.