The folks at Vocativ useda Flesch - Kincaid readability testto assess the comfort of comprehension of more than 600 presidential speeches , delivered by every Commander in Chief in American history . Notice a shape ?
Vocativ ’s analytic thinking is noteworthy for several understanding . It ’s informationally dense , but not irresistibly so . Above , the distance of a president ’s speech corresponds to the size of its representative circle ( as presidential voice communication have become simple and more approachable , they ’ve also pay back more long - winded ) . It ’s synergistic , and not in a gimmicky way ; it ’s easy , for example , to trace your means through America ’s presidential lineage by hovering your cursor over each of the 600 + datum point . Said data is deep enough to recede yourself in exploration , if that ’s your affair , but not so deep as to become unnavigable .
https://gizmodo.com/rappers-ranked-by-vocabulary-size-1571623387
“ It ’s tempting to read this as a dumbing down of the hooligan dais , ” Shesol explains . “ But it ’s in reality a sign of democratisation . In the former Republic , presidents could assume that they were utter to audiences made up mostly of military personnel like themselves : educated , civic - minded landholder . These , of course , were the only Americans with the right to vote . But over time , the dealership expanded and presidential appealingness had to reach a broader interview . ”
And here are Shesol ’s thoughts on the of import differentiation between complexity of language and complexity of approximation :
… distance and grade level are n’t especially useful gauges for the intelligence information ( or impact ) of a speech . The Gettysburg Address might be little , and the figure of syllables in Lincoln ’s quarrel few , but entire books have been written about that address . John F. Kennedy and his speechwriter , looking to Lincoln for inspiration , concluded that you should never employ a three - syllable Good Book when a two- or one - syllable Logos will do . That economy of prose characterizes a lot of JFK ’s speech communication .
And , he says , a luck of Obama and Bush ’s speeches , as well . “ I think President Obama , no more or less than President Bush , seek to pack a lot of nuance and subtext into speech communication that is as unembellished and aboveboard as potential , ” he explain .
Head on over toVocativfor the full psychoanalysis , and to act around with the visualization for yourself .
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