Giada Lalli, PhD
@giadalalli.bsky.social
“How to Survive a PhD — Before you drown #2”
Language, legibility, and why confusion is not neutral.
open.substack.com/pub/docglall...
Language, legibility, and why confusion is not neutral.
open.substack.com/pub/docglall...
How to Survive a PhD — Before you dive in #2
Language, legibility, and why confusion is not neutral
open.substack.com
January 15, 2026 at 12:46 PM
“How to Survive a PhD — Before you drown #2”
Language, legibility, and why confusion is not neutral.
open.substack.com/pub/docglall...
Language, legibility, and why confusion is not neutral.
open.substack.com/pub/docglall...
If you are unsure whether feedback is advice, suggestion, or obligation, the system quietly pushes you toward over-compliance.
That’s not immaturity.
That’s exposure.
That’s not immaturity.
That’s exposure.
January 15, 2026 at 12:46 PM
If you are unsure whether feedback is advice, suggestion, or obligation, the system quietly pushes you toward over-compliance.
That’s not immaturity.
That’s exposure.
That’s not immaturity.
That’s exposure.
Confusion is often framed as a rite of passage.
In reality, it’s frequently the result of underspecified rules and asymmetric access to meaning.
In reality, it’s frequently the result of underspecified rules and asymmetric access to meaning.
January 15, 2026 at 12:46 PM
Confusion is often framed as a rite of passage.
In reality, it’s frequently the result of underspecified rules and asymmetric access to meaning.
In reality, it’s frequently the result of underspecified rules and asymmetric access to meaning.
This isn’t about motivation.
Or resilience.
Or “getting used to academia”.
It’s about language: how expectations are implied, hedged, softened — and then enforced anyway.
Or resilience.
Or “getting used to academia”.
It’s about language: how expectations are implied, hedged, softened — and then enforced anyway.
January 15, 2026 at 12:46 PM
This isn’t about motivation.
Or resilience.
Or “getting used to academia”.
It’s about language: how expectations are implied, hedged, softened — and then enforced anyway.
Or resilience.
Or “getting used to academia”.
It’s about language: how expectations are implied, hedged, softened — and then enforced anyway.
This is not advice on how to speak better.
It’s about learning to make expectations legible before they become traps.
open.substack.com/pub/docglall...
It’s about learning to make expectations legible before they become traps.
open.substack.com/pub/docglall...
How to Survive a PhD — Before you dive in #2
Language, legibility, and why confusion is not neutral
open.substack.com
January 15, 2026 at 12:44 PM
This is not advice on how to speak better.
It’s about learning to make expectations legible before they become traps.
open.substack.com/pub/docglall...
It’s about learning to make expectations legible before they become traps.
open.substack.com/pub/docglall...
Fluency in academia is not about grammar.
It’s about detecting intent under politeness, and requirements under encouragement.
It’s about detecting intent under politeness, and requirements under encouragement.
January 15, 2026 at 12:44 PM
Fluency in academia is not about grammar.
It’s about detecting intent under politeness, and requirements under encouragement.
It’s about detecting intent under politeness, and requirements under encouragement.
I think it can be both a "bridging the gap" communication problem - which can be fixed by a lot pairing sessions - or the fact that some clients change their mind on the go; it can happen - and when it does, it's really annoying.
January 12, 2026 at 1:09 PM
I think it can be both a "bridging the gap" communication problem - which can be fixed by a lot pairing sessions - or the fact that some clients change their mind on the go; it can happen - and when it does, it's really annoying.
Even less, if the documentation is clear/complete enough - spoiler: it's never clear enough as the client never really knows what they want.
January 12, 2026 at 7:20 AM
Even less, if the documentation is clear/complete enough - spoiler: it's never clear enough as the client never really knows what they want.
hope you and your family - as well as all the other families - are safe home.
January 8, 2026 at 4:48 PM
hope you and your family - as well as all the other families - are safe home.
What a nice fractal
January 8, 2026 at 9:55 AM
What a nice fractal
Welcome 2026, I already figured you’d be the bad copy of 2025, didn’t expect you to be a bad copy of 1948.
January 8, 2026 at 9:47 AM
Welcome 2026, I already figured you’d be the bad copy of 2025, didn’t expect you to be a bad copy of 1948.
Hitler was Austrian, btw.
January 5, 2026 at 11:22 PM
Hitler was Austrian, btw.
This is the terrain mapped in the first text of How to Survive a PhD.
Not to make it gentler — but to make it legible before the water rises.
Not to make it gentler — but to make it legible before the water rises.
January 5, 2026 at 2:45 PM
This is the terrain mapped in the first text of How to Survive a PhD.
Not to make it gentler — but to make it legible before the water rises.
Not to make it gentler — but to make it legible before the water rises.
Over time, that uncertainty is moralised.
If you struggle, it’s framed as immaturity.
If you ask for clarity, as lack of ambition.
If you struggle, it’s framed as immaturity.
If you ask for clarity, as lack of ambition.
January 5, 2026 at 2:45 PM
Over time, that uncertainty is moralised.
If you struggle, it’s framed as immaturity.
If you ask for clarity, as lack of ambition.
If you struggle, it’s framed as immaturity.
If you ask for clarity, as lack of ambition.
The result is not intellectual uncertainty — that’s normal.
It’s chronic uncertainty about expectations, evaluation, and risk.
It’s chronic uncertainty about expectations, evaluation, and risk.
January 5, 2026 at 2:45 PM
The result is not intellectual uncertainty — that’s normal.
It’s chronic uncertainty about expectations, evaluation, and risk.
It’s chronic uncertainty about expectations, evaluation, and risk.
These are not accidents.
They are structural features that keep the system flexible, fundable, and hard to contest.
They are structural features that keep the system flexible, fundable, and hard to contest.
January 5, 2026 at 2:45 PM
These are not accidents.
They are structural features that keep the system flexible, fundable, and hard to contest.
They are structural features that keep the system flexible, fundable, and hard to contest.
What they are not told is that the doctorate runs on:
– work without operational contracts
– projects without clear edges
– authority that is real but rarely specified
– work without operational contracts
– projects without clear edges
– authority that is real but rarely specified
January 5, 2026 at 2:45 PM
What they are not told is that the doctorate runs on:
– work without operational contracts
– projects without clear edges
– authority that is real but rarely specified
– work without operational contracts
– projects without clear edges
– authority that is real but rarely specified
I was born in the 90s and believe me, this generation is STILL getting online traumas - it feels like internet keeps us stuck in our teenage years. Terrible.
January 4, 2026 at 8:49 PM
I was born in the 90s and believe me, this generation is STILL getting online traumas - it feels like internet keeps us stuck in our teenage years. Terrible.