A suggestion: use polite words in order to help your communication be received.
Strunk & White were on the money: “Omit needless words.”
However, I think it’s clear from the examples given that polite words are not necessarily noise—if they help the communication be received, rather than deprecated or even ignored, then they are important to the communication and should be considered part of it.
Your objection appears to be to application of a specific rule in a specific situation. This means, of course that one needs to adjust one’s communication style to the situation. This takes work, but that doesn’t mean it’s optional to success.
If it’s redundant, it’s redundant in the good computers and communications sense of “makes the signal more likely to get through.” I submit that this is actually quite important.
(If you look through my comments, you’ll see I post-edit almost all of them. I take care not to change the meaning (that would be extremely socially rude) - but I frequently dash off something, realise it’s brash enough it may affect it being received, and go back and fix it. Impolite words hamper communication, and IME just because nerds say they prefer unvarnished communication does not mean they like receiving it rather than feeling free to send it. So I consider it “adding signal.” I continue to take pride in being a good writer with an excellent turn of phrase, despite the evidence I need to think more before hitting “comment” …)
I agree with much of what you say here and in your linked suggestion. I particularly endorse your suggestion that if politeness “greases the way” to the understanding of a message, then it is an integral part of the message.
However, I still believe that there is some value in “pushing on the envelope”, in doing one’s bit toward shifting societal norms in the direction of greater honesty and less ego massage.
A suggestion: use polite words in order to help your communication be received.
Strunk & White were on the money: “Omit needless words.”
However, I think it’s clear from the examples given that polite words are not necessarily noise—if they help the communication be received, rather than deprecated or even ignored, then they are important to the communication and should be considered part of it.
Your objection appears to be to application of a specific rule in a specific situation. This means, of course that one needs to adjust one’s communication style to the situation. This takes work, but that doesn’t mean it’s optional to success.
If it’s redundant, it’s redundant in the good computers and communications sense of “makes the signal more likely to get through.” I submit that this is actually quite important.
(If you look through my comments, you’ll see I post-edit almost all of them. I take care not to change the meaning (that would be extremely socially rude) - but I frequently dash off something, realise it’s brash enough it may affect it being received, and go back and fix it. Impolite words hamper communication, and IME just because nerds say they prefer unvarnished communication does not mean they like receiving it rather than feeling free to send it. So I consider it “adding signal.” I continue to take pride in being a good writer with an excellent turn of phrase, despite the evidence I need to think more before hitting “comment” …)
I agree with much of what you say here and in your linked suggestion. I particularly endorse your suggestion that if politeness “greases the way” to the understanding of a message, then it is an integral part of the message.
However, I still believe that there is some value in “pushing on the envelope”, in doing one’s bit toward shifting societal norms in the direction of greater honesty and less ego massage.