Never Use Two Small Words When One Big One Will Do: A Writing Question

But this time, for some reason, at least a few of the edits are of the "big word for two small words" varient -- and that's what particularly concerns me.

god i'm slow sometimes.

(xpost)

i.e.

-- Sterling Clover (s_clove...) (webmail), December 2nd, 2003. (s_clover)

'En passant' is also a chess term, which prompts me to inflict on you the following irrelevant observation: it's great to confound people with terms derived from chess. For example, one excellent gambit is to describe any unusual strategy of lanthanine purpose as 'Nimzowitschian'. One can also refer to flank deployment of agents normally deployed in the centre as a 'fianchetto' ('Don't stack the polenta pieces over the mash - why not fianchetto them?'); or a recklessly debonair sacrifice as a 'fegatello'.

i think they are supposed to be burned at the stake!

Do you have any excuse for writing a passage in Italian? The word "cioé" is just perfect for what you need.

I do find that on rare occasions, passive voice is appropriate and preferable to active voice. Please do not ask me to cite a specific example.

My finance teacher made us write 200-wd stories where we were forbidden to use commas. He forbade us to use the word "and" and the word "but"!!

I climbed the stairs to the goddamned cubicle. I had failed in my attempts to pad up the ill-fitting chair within into something me-shaped; sundry used packaging supplies spilled from behind the inadequate back-supporter as I tried to snuggle in. My feet fell asleep within seconds anyway. There was no reason to do anything once I got there since my job had lost meaning for everyone around me long before I was hired. I was just required to show up every day so I'd stay out of trouble.

Since the pencil sharpener was on the way to the bathroom I brought the main tools of my trade along on potty run #1. They say I'm pretty efficient. Always saving company time. I turned on my heel when I realized my pencils were already sharp -- I hadn't used them once the day before. So after pissing I trudged back to my desk with the texts I was supposed to look at. Unfortunately nothing I could think of that did not involve fire and forgetfulness could improve them. I remembered that this was why I hadn't written any suggestions on any of the texts I'd looked at the day before.

The wheel of fruitless boredom ground over my soul like a tank crushing its own side's dead soldiers; neither the wheel nor the blandly-drafted texts would ever register my presence. I felt their (leisure-class) writers should all be shot. With those bullets that split into several evil shards so they can tear the shit out of your innards. The thought made me feel good for a few minutes. Then I felt even worse than I had before. Finally an alarm whistle sounded. We all went outside to smoke cigarettes in the merciless wind while the firefighters tried to save the building.

The moral of the story: Don't bitch about editorial geeks. They dwell in very colorful fantasy worlds.

overall i have learned that the anticipated audience is the most important factor in chosing what words and grammatical structures to use, unless a writer wants to sound hoity-toity (spelling, anyone?)

and also, the act of combining words, ifyouknowwhatimean, is generally less aimed at eliminating space or being trite than it is a visual way to demarcate a common phrase that is, for all intents and purposes, a singular entity.

i hate academia. youknowwhatimean?

(*staresatclockalarmed*)

I am nonpartisan on this issue. Someone should spank both Reagan and Clinton for using the passive voice this way.

"Window of opportunity
Please close it; it's cold."

"SINCE is to be replaced by BECAUSE when a cause-and-effect relationship is meant."

Mind you, this is a style sheet that I came up with, so supposedly I have an opinion on this issue. But I lifted the above from another style sheet and now I wonder if it serves any meaningful purpose. Opinions?

Social science papers rely on it heavily. It can get a bit wearing after a while, I guess.

Indeed, it's a bit like saying 'I don't like songs which use organs'; or, I will make this table without a saw'.

Gas taps were set alight -- is that passive? As in the film 'Fires were started'?

I mean if you don't like it fair enough, don't use it - I'm just surprised to find a reasonable fellow like Matos coming across so dogmatic upthread.

I can not stand when editors remove the commas after introductory prepositional phrases:

"In fact The Drop Nineteens were a seminal band for some."

VS:

"In fact, The Drop Nineteens were a seminal band for some."

There are sentences in Harper's (among other Yankee mags) that are virtually unreadable. It drives me nuts. I also hate the use of infinitives when the writer clearly wants to use a preposition. I mean come on, no one would write "I look forward to hear from you" so why would anyone write something like "Our company is committed to improve the working conditions in our fabrication plants." ARRRGH!!!

It's fine by me to put niggling points of style into a style guide, but it often comes down to a case of 'style for style's sake'. To me it is rather reminiscent of all other canons of good taste; the more detailed and demanding they are, the more easily they become outdated.

I should, however, be able to back up my own style sheet if called upon.