Has the Web Made Us Better Readers?

In the recent past, when writers used expressions like "Procrustean bed" or "Sisyphean task", they might have been considered rather 'snobby', even if those expressions might have been appropriate.

Today, of course, we can link to the definitions or have the reader search for the definition easily. It think, as long as the article isn't full of these types of references, it isn't too much work for the percentage of readers that may not remember their greek mythology.

Today, writers don't even need to go back to ancient Greece for their archetypes:

"Jumped the Shark" is a great expression for when something has become passé (follow the link if you don't know this one).

"Streisand Effect" is when the attempt to suppress information backfires and just makes it even more widely publicized.

"Take the redpill" when you need to leave your fantasy world and meet reality.

"Dialed Up to Eleven" for when something exceeds beyond, say, 10.

If you grokked all that, I think you might agree that writing on the web can and probably will become richer over time since there's little fear in throwing in an obscure allegory, idiom, metaphore, or colloquialism. You just a click away from being a snob, to being illuminating.

Here's to the end of dumbing down for the masses and instead writing rich, interesting and insightful articles.

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