11/23/2007
Words for Nerds – Soporific
Soporific is a word that looks good, sounds good, and means … what exactly?
A. Super terrific.
B. Stupid, dull witted.
C. Tending to cause sleep.
D. Calm, serene.
E. Flammable or excitable.
F. Capable of absorbing liquid.
Here are a few things that strike me as soporific.
1. Almost any movie longer than two hours.
2. Presidential debates.
3. Economics textbooks.
By now, even if this post strikes you as soporific, you’ve figured out that the word means … tending to cause sleep.
Copywriting, I might add, is a war waged against the soporific.
Long paragraphs induce sleep, so we shorten them and add bullet points.
Complex sentence structures, especially ones containing semicolons, produce yawns, so we simplify them.
Commonplace expressions, such as “we provide solutions”, inspire comas, so we eliminate them or replace them with power words and phrases.
Question
What sorts of things do you find soporific?
2 Responses to Words for Nerds – Soporific
Brad,
I can think of one thing I never find soporific: your posts! Thanks for another great word to add to our vocabularies!
Jeanne
Thanks, Jeanne. Glad you feel that way!