5 ms·
It's funny; my fourth-grade English teacher had a sign on her wall that read "Eschew prolixity." It's a safe bet that no fourth grader, no matter how extraordi
by jonnathanson 15y ago
It's funny; my fourth-grade English teacher had a sign on her wall that read "Eschew prolixity."
It's a safe bet that no fourth grader, no matter how extraordinary, has come across those two words by that point in his life. So, of course, everyone in the class was puzzled by them. The phrase might as well have been some ancient, Latin dictum -- and, for all we knew, it was.
Finally, one day, someone mustered the courage to ask her what the words meant.
"It's a rule for good writing," she said. "When you understand what it means, you're already in danger of breaking it."
- cafard 15y agoA variation, actually, on Mark Twain's "eschew surplusage". But "prolixity" does not mean using long words.
- jonnathanson 15y agoI'm aware, which makes the phrase technically incorrect in its intent. But I think it's still serviceable.
- gruseom 15y agoHmm. When I read your comment I thought it was a funny variation on Strunk and White's "Omit needless words": funny because it goes them one fewer, variation because it means the same thing. So if you're saying it was intended as "don't use obscure words", then your teacher pulled a fast one. It's probably better (i.e. more age-appropriate) advice for smart fourth-graders, though, than the other one. (Though maybe not. One wouldn't want to inhibit a nascent vocabulary!)
- jonnathanson 15y agoMy understanding is that it was intended as a variation on "omit needless words," but that said, "prolixity" is technically the wrong word for that job (as prolixity is more concerned with total word count, and less with individual word choice). That said, I think both its message, and its wording, served to teach both lessons: one directly, and one indirectly. Incidentally, the same class also served as the first of my many introductions to Strunk & White. We were way too young for their book, but it never hurts to start early.
- gruseom 15y agoYou reminded me of something I heard on NPR recently. When E.B. White was old and couldn't remember things, his son would sit and read to him. Sometimes he would read pieces that White had written, and White would say, "Who wrote that one?" And his son would say, "You did." And White would say, "Not bad."
- davesims 15y agoOr the self-contradictory, "Eschew obfuscation."
- gruseom 15y agoHey. Eschew is a perfectly good word.
- taylorbuley 15y agoGesundheit. Here's a nice list of common phases that can be eschewed without worry: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__oMEOi1B6Rc/TDxuvGxYfeI/AAAAAAAAAAw/AMrFQiPi98k/s640/Avoid.JPG http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__oMEOi1B6Rc/TDxuvGxYfeI/AAAAAAAAAA...
- gruseom 15y agoYou're preaching to the choir, believe me (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3794092 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3794092). And "eschew" is a perfectly good word. It's different from "avoid" and "shun", etc., and when it's the right word, it's just right. "Obfuscation" is too, for that matter, but I don't want to ask for too much here :)