The second example is Daniel Oppenheimer’s acceptance speech for the 2006 Ig Nobel Prize for Literature. The Ig Nobels, awarded by Annals of Improbable Research, recognize research that first makes people laugh and then makes them think. Oppenheimer hopes his results will help writers avoid inflated language. “I think it’s important to point out that this study is not about problems with using long words, it’s about problems with using long words needlessly.” He advises, “If the best way to...