[dennisw]

.

[shrinkermd]

Great Post Thank you. I liked this:"Foreign words and expressions such as cul de sac, ancien r&eacutgime, deus ex machina, mutatis mutandis, status quo, gleichschaltung, weltanschauung , are used to give an air of culture and elegance. Except for the useful abbreviations i.e., e.g. , and etc. , there is no real need for any of the hundreds of foreign phrases now current in the English language

[LiteKeeper]

bump

[cebadams]

For those who want an abridged version of the above:

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus:

1. What am I trying to say?
2. What words will express it?
3. What image or idiom will make it clearer?
4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?

And he will probably ask himself two more:

1. Could I put it more shortly?
2. Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?

But one can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think the following rules will cover most cases:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never us a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

These rules sound elementary, and so they are, but they demand a deep change of attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the style now fashionable.

[redbaiter]

Required reading.

[nothingnew]

Excellent post, and I am unanimous on that.

FMCDH

[Carry_Okie]

One for you.

[ccmay]

A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outline and covering up all the details.

The best line in the article.

-ccm

[griffin]

bump

[Eastbound]

A+

[jodorowsky]

THANK YOU!

I've been thinking about this essay a lot over the past couple of days and now here it is!

[jodorowsky]

Uncommon Knowledge did a show taking this essay as a starting point. Streaming RealVideo, and streaming Windows Media.

LOST FOR WORDS: Politics and the English Language

In 1946, George Orwell wrote a famous essay deploring the decline in the level of modern political discourse. Many would argue that in the following fifty years, the problem has only gotten worse. But why is this the case? Our politicians all have teams of professional speech writers and pollsters, working with focus group data and the latest research to figure out just what the public wants to hear. So why doesn't it work? Why does the political discourse of our modern politicians pale against those of our forefathers? Guest: Andrew Ferguson, Senior Editor, Weekly Standard.

[SunkenCiv]

This topic is years old, so don't post replies and expect it to go well. :')

If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself.