Good additions @yoz.
Starting from “trivializer” (see @toddbarnard thread), I found “downplayer”, and this fitting definition:
“Downplayer: A word used to make someone or something look less significant.”
— from https://www.deanza.edu/faculty/ramireztono/phil04/weekfiveoverhead.pdf
Your examples “common X” and “standard Y” could be considered downplayer adjectives, except perhaps when in proper nouns like Common Lisp, Standard Oil, or if an actual standard (like HTML) is cited.
@toddbarnard indeed.
Also mentioned in #IndieWeb chat^:
“all you have to do is”
“essentially”
Still looking for a category for these words/phrases.
Maybe “trivializers”?
^https://chat.indieweb.org/2021-03-29#t1616977040780000
Are there other words like:
"basically"
"just"
"simply"
used in explanations/instructions to obscure actual complexity or difficulty?
Is there a name for such words?
They often shame the reader as a side-effect (if it’s not easy, it must be my fault)
More on this
* Fires, smoke, pandemic risks, lockdowns taught us these things matter:
+ life-support
+ safety
+ comfort (perhaps absence of involuntary discomfort)
Systems to sustain and tools to maintain these, matter more than does it “spark joy”
Reflecting on insightful #visualthinking talks by @nadrosia & @evalottchen @BTConf @StayCurio_us Café last week. A couple of quotes:
“making things and editing should be in two different phases … also in writing. these are two different modes”
“you want to have your own CSS in your hand [when drawing] ... your style for an h1 h2 or pullquote”
both by @evalottchen
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