Glossary
SMOG
SMOG (Simple Measure of Gobbledygook) is a readability formula that estimates the years of education needed to understand a piece of writing. SMOG is widely used, particularly for checking health messages.
SMOG was published by G. Harry McLaughlin in 1969 as a more accurate and more easily calculation of a text’s readability. A possible an approximate formula was also given — count the words of 3 or more syllables in 3 10-sentence samples, estimate the count’s square root (from the nearest perfect square), and add 3.
SMOG has been successfully used by employers as a simple means of testing the readability of communications such as Health & Safety manuals and pension information to ensure they are written at a level that employees can understand.