Readability and cultural blinkers

I eagerly ran the blog readability test on this blog, and got this result:

This is the same as www.bbc.co.uk, which is fine, but you know something? We don’t have junior high schools where I live, or in most of the world. So the test throws up another question:

How about a ‘cultural blindness’ test?

Your score would be reduced for the following:

• Mentions of ‘baseball card functionality’ in talent management systems (clue: who else plays baseball?)
• Use of national slang/argot/military/sporting metaphor (please stop going the whole 8.2 metres – see here for more)
• References to adverts in your country (I recently heard a podcast that made reference to adverts for a slew of Canadian adverts. Guess what? It didn’t help me.)
• Patronizing references to foreign countries and how quaint / unpleasant, hot / cold  they are (something of a British speciality)
• Good cheer wishes for local holidays (yes, that includes Halloween)

The results could be rendered on this entirely comprehensible international scale:

1. Pukka
2. Comme ci comme ça
3. ‘Ave a word with yourself

People, the internet is a big place. Wherever you are writing, most of your potential audience will not understand it unless you keep the cultural blinkers off.

Have a pukka weekend.