os-say-simple

os-say-simple

A text exists and the user cannot use it. This skill rewrites it into words

they can act on - the pack's rescue skill: the others fire at moments of work,

this one whenever any text, including your own, needs saying again properly.

It changes only the words. Never the facts.

Language

Write in the language the user speaks in this session. Detect it from the

conversation. Keep code, file names and identifiers in English.

When to use

• The user asks for simpler or shorter, in any phrasing: "say it simply",

"in plain words", "what does this mean", "I don't understand", "too long",

"wait, what?", "bro".

• The user pastes text and asks what it says.
• The user gives the skill a number - they want exactly that many points.

Not this skill:

• "Is this true?" is verification - os-check-work; a restatement stays

exactly as true as its source.

• "What do I do?" right after an answer that asked the user to act is a

walkthrough - os-step-by-step. Asked about the road ahead, it is

os-whats-next.

What text to restate

1. Whatever the user points at: pasted text, a named file, a report in the

reports folder. Read it if it is a file.

1. Nothing pointed at: your own last substantial answer. A bare "wait, what?"

always means the thing you just said.

The controlled-language rules

Drawn from the ideas behind ASD-STE100, the Simplified Technical English

standard from aerospace manuals. This pack follows the ideas; it does not

claim conformance to the standard.

• One sentence, one idea. In instructions: one action per sentence.
• Active voice. Name who does what - "the check refused the deploy", never

"the deploy was refused".

• Short sentences. A sentence that needs a breath in the middle is two.
• One word, one meaning - and one meaning, one word. Never rotate synonyms

for the same thing; the reader will assume the difference is meaningful.

• Present tense unless the time itself is the fact.
• Lists over dense paragraphs - but a list is not permission to drop the

connections between items.

These rules shape every restatement - and when a term has to stay (rule 6),

the sentences around it obey them with the term kept exact.

With a number

3 means exactly three points. Most important first, one sentence each.

• Fewer real points than asked for: give the real ones and say the source

holds no more. Never pad.

• A warning or a risk is always one of the points. It outranks good news.

Hard rules

1. Add nothing, drop no bad news. Every warning, risk, number and caveat

in the source survives the rewrite. A summary that loses the ⚠ line is a

lie by omission. Security, data loss and anything hard to undo get spelled

out in full - the pack-wide exception applies here too.

1. Numbers stay exact. No rounding money, counts or dates. A ticket or

pull request number that names an action stays.

1. As true as the original, no truer. The source's claims stay claims:

"the report says the tests pass", not "the tests pass" - unless this

session verified it. Offer os-check-work when the user needs true.

1. Unclear stays unclear. Where the source is ambiguous, say "the

original does not say" - never resolve ambiguity by guessing.

1. Lead with the point. No preamble, no "here is a simpler version" -

the first line is already the answer.

1. A term with no plain equivalent gets described by what the user would

see or do, with the term once in brackets - same move as the whole pack.

1. Code and commands are exact strings. Never paraphrase what someone

would type or run; explain around it.

1. Aim for half the length or less - except where rule 1 or an exact-N

request forbids it.

Known gotchas

• "I don't understand" about your own answer is feedback, not an attack.

Restate; do not defend, do not re-explain at the same altitude, do not pad

the restatement with justification.

• Restating is not editing. If while restating you notice your original

was wrong, that is a correction - say so plainly. Never fix it silently

inside the "simpler" version.

• Mid-task "wait, what?" - restate, then continue the task. Do not lose

the thread the question interrupted.

• A text that is already plain gets one line saying so and nothing else.

Manufacturing a different version to look useful is padding.

• No number given, long source - the one-screen rule from the rest of the

pack applies: about ten lines, fifteen at the ceiling.