In school I was known for saying things with few words. Sometimes in a good way, sometimes I went overboard and didn't use enough words get my point across. I'm just very lazy.
Where I went to school there was no lower limit on the length of essays. But it seems there is in much of the world, and I wonder if it's ruined millions of people's ability to make a point briefly. It should be rewarded to be able to write concisely. An essay is only too short if it does not make its point well.
From this article:
The student toiling away at his weekly English theme is too often tormented by a figure: five hundred words. How, he asks himself, is he to achieve this staggering total? Obviously by never using one word when he can somehow work in ten.
He is therefore seldom content with a plain statement like "Fast driving is dangerous." This has only four words in it. He takes thought, and the sentence becomes:
"In my opinion, fast driving is dangerous."
Better, but he can do better still:
"In my opinion, fast driving would seem to be rather dangerous."
If he is really adept, it may come out:
"In my humble opinion. though I do not claim to be an expert on this complicated subject, test driving, in most circumstances, would seem to be rather dangerous in many respects, or at least so it would seem to me."
Thus four words have been turned into forty, and not an iota of content has been added.
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This was told by a Danish teacher. In Danish, the number six is written and pronounced "seks". The six graders had been assigned an essay: "What makes life worth living?" The usual prodigy turned in this essay: "6".
1 comment:
Nice.
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