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Week 462: Rule 17; Necessary Words; A to Z of Needless Words

ireneallison12

Well here we are, the holidays behind us, in a brand spanking New Year, which, in my eyes, already looks as fresh as a recently widowed elderly French rent boy cruising the cafes in search of a breathing benefactor. But to those of you who insist on at least benign, if not kind or P.C. expressions–well, happy new year to you and many more I am sure.

I do not make new year’s resolutions. I figure if you have something about you that needs changing, get started now–don’t let it hang from, say, mid-August until the first of January. Bad things tend to degrade further with the passage of time. We all know that, yet we promise to get started on self improvement “after the holidays.” For many, there is nothing more depressing than early January, and yet that is when we have vowed to stop using elderly French rent boys in punchlines. Resolutions underestimate the resolve of “stinking thinking.”

Still, there is one resolution that I encourage writers to take up, if they haven’t already: William Strunk’s Rule 17 from The Elements of Style.

“Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”

Whenever I find myself hung up on something I’ve been working endlessly, and yet is still unsatisfactory, I apply Rule 17 to it. Mainly, I see it as going through each sentence and give it the “Dick and Jane” First Grade Reader treatment. I ask: Subject, verb, object? The truly messed up sentences stray from the basics and are usually run on affairs infested with adverbs and doubled adjectives. Their verbs are either not extant or are inaccurate, thus weak.

Here’s a quick example–I just wrote this: “Mainly, I see it as going through each sentence and give it the “Dick and Jane” First Grade Reader treatment.” Let’s apply a dab of Rule 17 to it: “I give each sentence the learning reader treatment.” Although that clause is dependent on the others to work, it is now a team player who doesn’t try to do too much on its own.

Now, if I only could, I would use Rule 17 as a giant phaser on certain words in the English language that, in my humble estimation, need deletion every time they appear, or at least a long vacation. So, in that spirit, the first list of 2024 will appear at the end. Hmmm, let’s do an A to Z-er.

But First, Necessary Words

The Brave New Year opened with, what else? The stage comeback of a famous Thespian Allosaurus of yesteryear, but of course. I know that every year seems to start that way anymore–but there you have it, my My Fair Juan G. that greeted the mass hangover Monday past.

Our first of two debut authors arrived on the site Tuesday. Billie Chang brought us the funny and insightful I Tried to Eat an Apple. Although the story is most definitely set in the current world, there are timeless little observations of the human condition throughout the piece.

Thomas J Daly opened his site account with the wonderful Rosa Rugosa. Although set in a time that has been heavily written about for around eighty years, the unique angle that Thomas approached the subject with made it fresh and alive–and gives proof that as long as something is written with imagination and energy, no subject needs to go stale.

Few site writers have been as prolific as our friend Michael Bloor has been for the last year or so. Moreover, Mick has written several Sunday pieces that makes getting an accurate account of his posts a bit more work than usual. Still whether The Ferryman’s Tale is the 14th or 16th (I promise to work that out someday soon), you will find yourself making a guess at just who is on that ferry.

And we close the first week of 2024 with the first of the year by a long time contributor and faithful commenter, David Henson. Scattered Faith is David’s thirty-third for us. It has his usual touch of the absurd, with a bit of hope added into the mix. Qualities that well describe the subject matter of this tale.

As always, I strongly encourage you to read at least Tuesday through Friday’s works if you have yet to do so. And special thanks to our commenters for keeping things lively.

And now…

The A to Z of English Words that Need a Blast of Rule 17 ( I, J, N, Y randomly left open)

A-Associate (meaning “employee” or “worker”)

B-Buh-bye

C-Chilly

D-Dawgter

E-Elderly

F-Frenemy

G-Generational

H-Hanker(ing)

I- (open)

J- (open)

K-Kibble in place of Quibble

L-Like (like nine times in ten–I’m guilty)

M-Moist

N-(open)

O-Owie

P-Poop

Q-Quibble in place of Kibble

R-Revisit (manager-speak for “See you in hell before we discuss that raise again”)

S-Smirk (for me, the most overused word of 2023)

T-Tummy

U-Utmost (I hear it as a made up kid word used to futilely top most–like “biggerest”)

V-Vampire

W-Which errantly over that and vice versa

X-All communications that substitute “X” for the prefix “Ex”

Y-(open)

Z-Zombie

Leila

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Published by ireneallison12

19 thoughts on “Week 462: Rule 17; Necessary Words; A to Z of Needless Words”

  1. We said a chilly buh-bye to our elderly associate who had become a frenemy mainly by hankering after kibble which he was said to like moist. He ate so much he had an owie in his tummy which made him poop and revisit the bathroom regularly. We did our utmost not to smirk which was mainly because we thought he might be a vampre
    Just sayin’

    sorry – the devil made me do it.

    Great post as always x

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  2. Good first Saturday post of the year. Sometimes to squeeze out unnecessary words, I’ll set my own word count limit. Say I have a draft of 1,200 words I’ll edit it down to a flash fiction. Usually I lose nothing but unnecessary words in the process. I’d add two to the list. “Just” when it means “only.” And usually “only.”

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    1. Hi David
      Excellent point. Although I am guilty of it, just got in with only due to our mothers always telling us “just one.”
      I am also guilty of messing up the difference between less and fewer. I also avoid headed and heading at all costs.
      Thank you!
      Leila

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  3. Hi Leila,
    Excellent post to start the year!
    I take it ‘Dick and Jane’ is the same as our ‘Janet and John’ although it sounds a bit more risque!
    Oh Janet and John went on benefits with a scatter of weans early 1980’s. Sadly John died of a smack overdose 1988. Janet who was also an addict got clean, wrote a self-help book and has ever since been a regular guest on talk shows and made appearances on reality shows. Those shows pitch is always the same – ‘You can’t get realer than Janet’
    My thoughts on those spaces would be:

    I – Influencer – (Eradicate the word the twat and those that are influenced)
    J – I can’t even bring myself to type it but it is a Scottish word that tries to cuteify the word ‘shite’ (Bit like ‘Poop’ and ‘Poo’ which I also despise but can at least type when I’m explaining how much I loathe those words.)
    N – New-Normal (Will you take a hyphenated word, correctly hyphenated or not??)
    Y – Yikes – Whit a fucking lame swear word!!

    Have a cracking year!
    Hugh

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      2. Happy 2024 Doug
        I often wonder what would be worse Apple Paltrow or Dick Trickle? Lots of clueless/useless people reproducing as always. I rather like Tom’s (he of and Jerry fame) “Eee-yikes.”
        Leila

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      3. Leila – I watch Tune In With Tooney weekdays while doing my exercises. Old cartoons are where I learn the anti-physics and anti-biology. Very common example – one doesn’t fall until one looks down to see that one is somewhere a thousand feet above the ground.

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      4. I have watched that when off on a weekday. Something nostalgic about cartoons at 7 a.m. Saw Woody Woodpecker for the first time since childhood.
        Wile E. Coyote must have been absent the day at Coyote school when they taught umbrellas are useless against heavy falling objects.
        Leila

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    2. Forgot to mention, Dick and Jane (along with Dog Spot) were the first grade primers I was raised on. I am hoping they have at least updated the name “Dick” in sixty years. Jane is always good–but the other even made us laugh in 1964.
      Leila

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      1. Hi Leila,
        At school one of my classmates was called Alan Dick. I think the teachers just loved to call out A. Dick at registration.
        Hugh

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      2. Hah!
        Parents need to be diligent about naming the kids. I imagine going through life as Harry Butts or Anita Cox will either toughen you up or shatter your mind before the age of ten.

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    3. Influencer – not real
      Influenza – real
      Yikes – My comment on 332* stories
      Not exactly on topic (note adverb – I’ve got a lot and know how to misuse them), and you may be fortunate if you don’t see X / Twiter – receipts, optics, walk it back, ask (noun), task (verb), adult (verb)

      *Lie or exaggeration

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  5. Great post as always. I love the word list. I started adding a few beginning with ‘i’ in my head beginning with ‘irreplaceable’ and then a few more, but I realised I was being ‘inane’, ‘inconsequential’, ‘intolerable’ and ultimately ‘insufferable’.

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