The Power of Simple Words - Terin Izil

Moć jednostavnih reči - Terin Izil

Prevodilac: Anja Saric Lektor: Mile Živković

We all know the scene: Dorothy closes her eyes,

Svi znamo scenu: Doroti zatvara oči

and repeats the Good Witch's mantra,

i ponavlja mantru Dobre veštice:

"No coordinates exist like one's domicile,

"Ne postoje koordinate kao što je nečija domovina,

no coordinates exist like one's domicile,

ne postoje koordinate kao što je nečija domovina,

no coordinates exist like one's domicile."

ne postoje koordinate kao što je nečija domovina."

Only Dorothy doesn't say that. She says five one-syllable words,

Samo što Doroti ne izgovara ovo. Ona izgovara pet jednosložnih reči:

"There's no place like home."

"Svuda pođi, svojoj kući dođi."

Each a word you probably learned in your first year of speaking,

Svaku od ovih reči verovatno ste naučili u svojoj prvoj godini,

each perfectly concise.

i svaka je savršeno sažeta.

It's not that L. Frank Baum didn't have a thesaurus,

Nije da L. Frenk Baum nije imao tezaurus,

it's that in most cases $10 words fail.

samo u većini slučajeva te komplikovane reči ne funkcionišu.

Would Aerosmith have had a hit with

Da li bi Aerosmit imao hit sa

"Ambulate This Direction?"

"Uputi se ovim pravcem"?

Probably not.

Verovatno ne.

Would Patrick Henry have ignited a revolution by saying,

Da li bi Patrik Henri potpalio revoluciju rečima:

"Provide me with liberty or bestow upon me fatality?"

"Obezbedi mi slobodu ili me daruj fatalnošću"?

Unlikely.

Teško.

When it comes to words, bigger isn't always better.

Što se tiče reči, veće ne znači uvek i bolje.

Ten-dollar words are rendered worthless if they're not understood.

Komplikovane reči su izrečene uzaludno, ako se ne razumeju.

That's not to say every piece of literature

To ne znači da bi svako književno delo

should be written at a fourth-grade reading level,

trebalo da bude napisano rečima na nivou četvrtaka,

but it is important to know your audience.

ali bitno je znati svoju publiku.

If you're a novelist, your audience is probably expecting

Ako ste romanopisac, vaša publika verovatno očekuje

300 pages of vivid descriptors.

300 strana živopisnih opisa.

At the very least, they're expecting

Najmanje što očekuju je

you won't use the same 50 words to fill those pages.

da nećete koristiti istih 50 reči da popunite te stranice.

But most of us don't have the luxury of a captive audience.

Ali većina nas nema taj luksuz očarane publike.

We're competing against a whole world of distractions

Takmičimo se sa celim svetom ometača

and we're fighting for space in an attention span

i borimo se za pažnju

that continues to shrink across generations.

koja je sve manja kroz generacije.

So get to the point already.

Dođi već jednom do suštine.

Variety may be the spice of life, but brevity is its bread and butter.

Raznolikost nam može začiniti život, ali kratkoća je osnova.

So when it comes to $10 words,

Dakle, što se tiče komplikovanih reči, čuvajte pare i kupite kvizovku.

save your money and buy a Scrabble board.