From the friendly caves of Pixie Hollow.
Robert Macfarlane writes about Earth in a language you never knew existed.
He is extraordinary at conceiving place.
He doesn't just write about his own brilliant-crazy-insane-breath-stealing experiences in deep underground caving, ice climbing, and other things most of us never experience.
He creates new space in your own meagre existence for visualising icy-blue sheets of ice, pitch-black cave interiors, and the clean, cold, exhilarating of inhalation on release of your physical self from the unforgiving walls of dust-filled, underground tunnels.
In one memorable scene, Macfarlane was attempting to reach a deep underground river. He referred to it as the 'starless river': A raging river that flows underneath eastern Europe. Its geography has never been mapped. A team of speleologists, in one attempt to forge upstream from its most recent-mapped location took fifteen days underground and moved barely five kilometres.
His knowledge of birds, plants, and structures is phenomenal.
I learned that rock breathes. It has tides just like the ocean does. It's just that while oceans rise up to 16 metres, rock's shift is more like 16 mm.
Macfarlane uses a vocabulary that has been hidden from most us, too.
The language is of geology, mining, hydrology, speleology.
You might wonder why some ordinary extreme caver/mountaineer could have such a specialised knowledge, without also being a serious student. The answer is that Macfarlane is a doctor, and is now a Fellow of Emmanuel College at Cambridge.
(That answer tells you a lot about who funds the kinds of adventures that fill his books.)
One of the things that it reminds me of is how experts use jargon.
Underland (the book I'm reading) isn't filled with jargon. It's filled with location-appropriate terms that are highly specific.
The difference is important.
When Macfarlane uses speleological jargon, he does so in a way that causes the reader to discover meaning in order to further their understanding of the magical places about which he writes.
When professionals use jargon, they (in my experience) do so in a way that turns their content into a wall of impenetrability.
You can use jargon, contrary to contemporary knowledge.
It's not a good idea to rely on jargon. I recall reading a document by a lawyer involved in a franchise update when I was on the board of a local bank. That document was not only archaically structured, it caused someone of even my capacity to disintegrate into powder.
So when you choose jargon terms, do it for good reason.
Do it because, like karst, it perfectly describes a landscape formed from the dissolution of soluble rock (like limestone).
xx Leticia 'deep inside the Earth' Mooney
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Leticia Mooney is a consultant with decades of experience handling content for people like you. Her company Brutal Pixie casts the kind of spells your customers love. Its services include consulting (content strategy, content operations, communication strategy, investigations, audits); virtual help (content writing,
ghostwriting, editing, proofreading); training (including coaching and mentoring). Leticia is also the mother of an intelligent, engaging and curious boy who is named after a character created by J.R.R. Tolkien. Discover more at her official website, or visit the Pixie.
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