I like to look at esoteric aspects of language and sometimes be flippant with tongue-in-cheek musings – as per my previous posts. But today, let’s be practical.
In George Orwell’s 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language”, he listed five rules for effective writing. Here’s one of them (about which I have to constantly remind myself) on superfluity in language:
If it’s possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
When writing, less is always more. Express the essence. Say it, don’t spray it. Communicate crisply. For example:
It’s a clear indication = It’s clear; On a daily basis = daily; The old classics = The classics; They merged together / as one = They merged. (You will have recognised that most of these are tautologies / redundant repetitions.)
Thomas Jefferson stated the rule succinctly over 200 years ago, “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” But my favourite quote on the subject is from Dr Seuss, “So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.”
The only positive thing about verbosity – and it’s scant consolation however – is that it keeps us editors in business. But I’d prefer a world without editors.
Thanks Gavin
Interesting new Blog and thanks for the link, seeing that I am in the same trade as you (sans the copywriting part though)
This is a timely reminder to be constantly on the lookout for unnecessary verbosity and redundancies.
In this context, one of my favorite quotes that has stuck in my mind over the years, though I have no idea who said it:
“Wallowing in a cesspool of semanic subterfuge!”
Peter
Thanks Peter. That quote’s a beauty!