Definitions: (1) clear and explicit in statement or expression <speech or writing>; easily understood; lucid; not obscure or ambiguous; plain; distinct; (2) aware of the mind and needs of the other.
Derivation: Latin, “to look at closely”
Familial Qualities: a good listening ability, kindness, sincerity, unselfishness
Quote: The first requisite of style, not only in rhetoric, but in all compositions, is perspicuity. — Richard Whately (1787–1863) English polymath [six disciplines]
Comments:
• Brain scans have revealed a region associated with understanding the thoughts and intentions of other people. This neural linkage, like all others, can be strengthened with exercise.
• Perspicuity is the mirror image of self-perceptive. It is the ability to perceive the world from another person’s point of view. Communication is presented using the language the other is familiar with. Perspicuous people help others assimilate softly, recognizing what the other can digest. Maybe what is needed is mother’s milk, or maybe some roughage is okay.