[Gumlegs]

Too many words, too many sylables per word. Try and get them down to 1 and 1, respectively.

[Right Wing Professor]

Too many words, too many sylables per word. Try and get them down to 1 and 1, respectively.

A little earlier in the year, the Economist, extolling simple prose, wrote an entire editorial in monosyllables. It was a bit strained in some sections, but all and all, a creditable and amusing effort.

I started composing a letter in reply entirely in polysyllables, but got busy at something else, and never finished it.

[furball4paws]

There are two FOG indices.

FOG1 is the number of syllables divided by the number of words. Scientists have high FOG1 indices. Your average schmuck like me loves Anglo-Saxon monosyllables. What could be more clear than: "He died. His throat was cut." Real brutal and real clear? It is possible to converse using only monosyllables. Gets tricky at times, but....

FOG2 is the number or words divided by the number of significant things said. Scientists have very low FOG2 indices. Deans are much higher and politicians' FOG2 indices approach infinity.

[Ichneumon]

Too many words, too many sylables per word. Try and get them down to 1 and 1, respectively.

Okay.

(...damn!)