The negative reactions are interesting. It seems that people feel some sort of “need” to express themselves in complex terms so they can feel superior. As someone who does not speak English as main language I find the idea of simple communication and writing to be a good thing.

I read and write a lot of English in my daily life because most resources are in English and it is still the best language to communicate across borders. A simple text is always better. Complexity — especially in written or spoken form — only makes the resource less accessible and therefore raises the gap to understand the meaning of it. If we — Developer, Designer, Makers — want to reach the most people we need to keep it simple. Not everyone is on the same level, not everyone has had the chance to learn English, not everyone knows what a idiom is, — the simpler, the better. I could write a scientific, complex article about a technology in German (my native language) and then look down on everyone who doesn’t understand it because their German is not good enough, but what’s the point? I would rather like to keep it simple so people who are not yet perfect in writing or reading German could still understand what I try to tell them.

This is not about simple vs. complex language, it’s about a very specific perspective on written communication: Do you want to sound smart or do you want to communicate your idea/concept with everyone? Should it be exclusively for those “educated enough” or should everyone from my grandma to my 6 year old nephew understand the meaning?

There are smart people out there who may not understand your writing because of language barriers but are more than capable of understanding the meaning of it.