What is the difference between saying something and conveying something?
Many times we get caught up in terms that either make us seem smarter, look more professional, or bring more depth to a topic we are knowledgeable in. With this, we need to carefully analyze our audience and gauge what level of communication resonates with them, because at the end of the day it’s all about communication right? If your language does not match your target audience then what you say will lose some of its power because it holds less value the listener/consumer when they can’t understand it.
Take me for example, I enjoy words, I like learning about their definitions, using them in 
conversations, and teaching them to others. But if I use an unfamiliar word in a conversation I either see the listener’s eyes glaze over, have to stop and explain it, or both. It would be great if everyone could admit when they missed what I was trying to communicate by asking the definition for a set of terms I may have used; however, it does not always go that way. While I’m not a walking thesaurus, I find myself using some more intricate language in many conversations. I’ll bet even wordy people like me won’t guess all of these obfuscations of celebrated oracular utterances. I bring this up because it is a great collection of the more extreme words one could use instead of just saying the more known version of the common phrase. It takes more effort to make something confusing for someone than it does to simplify it.
So where is the happy medium for types of language? It really depends on the objective of the speaker, I wanted to teach and convey a point I would use some wording which reinforces the point but also encapsulates the definitions or the more complicated words. However, if I just want to get the point across I drop into layman’s terms for the most part.
Takeaways:
- Speak to a level your audience will understand.
- Create ways to teach/define more difficult terms if you use language you are unsure your audience will connect with.
- Get creative, use diverse language that drives home your objective(s).