So, someone – herein referred to as “guy”- visited my blog and had “a few” questions for me. Read the dialogue that ensued.
GUY: Hello Ekele, I visited your blog yesterday and found it really interesting.
ME: Alright. Good to know you visited.
GUY: Ekele, knowing that you are a graduate of English and Literature from the University of Benin, I expected to see abundant use of high-sounding words. You know, bookish language. I was really perplexed at your simplicity of diction. What do you have to say about this?
Me: Let’s turn the table for a while. I have one question for you.
GUY: Please, go ahead.
Me: Which of my writeups did you enjoy the most?
GUY: The one titled “Dear Diary, I’m Pained!!”
ME: Alright. Since you enjoyed it, it’s safe for me to believe you got the message I passed across.
GUY: Absolutely
ME: Then I’m fine with you being “perplexed” at my diction.
GUY: Don’t you think the “big words” could make your writeup more impressive?
ME: I don’t care about my works being impressive as long as I’m able to convey my ideas and tell my stories effectively. I’m not interested in making people run to their dictionaries on reading every sentence I make. The aim of writing them might be defeated if they’re unable to access a dictionary.
GUY: Don’t you think that they going to the dictionary regularly while reading your works is an avenue for them to learn new words?
ME: Who made me their Diction teacher? I’m not interested in using my works to teach new words, I just want to communicate. I wouldn’t want to recreate that historic History class in my first year of University education. That beautiful Tuesday afternoon when Mr. History Lecturer walked into class and gave us a test with a question like this:
To what extent would you concede to the polemic African Personality and Negritude as being coterminous to a distinction without a difference. “
GUY: Wow! Did you say your first History test in school? Do you mind telling us how the atmosphere was in class that day?
ME: All I can say is it took some of us the time allowed for the test and even more to understand that he just needed us to explain the similarities and differences between Negritude and African Personality. You know, just compare and contrast those concepts.
GUY: Wow! Ekele, I would also like to ask….
ME: Dude, really? You got more questions?
GUY: I was going to ask about your score….
ME: Good thing I interrupted you.
Posted by Ekele Oriahi
Phrankelle's Blog 
There’s nothing like passing across a message that everyone can understand… Communication doesn’t have to do with high sounding words or complex dictions….. . Have you wondered why Patrick Ogbayangbo (don’t know if his other name is correct) doesn’t even pass across a message to his audience (that’s is even if he has one)…. sometimes his words sound funny to the ears… you always have to get a dictionary to check through for the meanings….
Using complex words doesn’t qualify you a good communicator and using simple diction doesn’t make you less a good communicator.
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True that, Yvonne. His name is almost as complex as his diction. It’s Obahiagbon though
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Your reply to him was appropriate because trust me, if you want write ups filled with bombast, you would get tired because as English graduates we will make use of words you won’t find in the dictionary….
So why go through all that….
When you can understand a simple write up
Communication is key!
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True talk, Lola. We could coin our own words. We even have a name for those – neologisms.
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Exactly
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