Economy In Words

Dobbin action is of the built to Construct not Cart nor wheel for Growth is conduction of Hark!!,

and lo And be Hold is a foreign branch of Humanity as the rink is not even Ice but Fire,

off shooting sands to just enough pasture that the grit is not quite a Pebble but wad Stoned.

Reference the thought to mind in a scale of decrepit cent to Copper weathered green by exposure,

moss is of spree in Kelp on the heat to that ferment of cycle port ages in slim to charged for Shim,

armpit deal of flatulence by deed in tongue burning the Nature of propane to fuel the cleaved.

Congress on communication locks on shell the Clams bite the dust yet the water is listing,

the Jackal of incredible jaw is bone crushing with a tempered lion on the bay called,

at scream of yip with Nip a bit dipped Heeling is the frame of the Force at thee Tartar.

Grass shacks swaying with Wilds on singing breeze with storm moving tongue,

the sharps on the plain in english of lane Accent to that roar I knew a Reality of Cats,

at street California the 'Black House' addressed in scene the shingle of such similar turn.

Is the arctic banana a slip to the freeze As Chocolate Covered the singer best Hip,

a groovy attire worn for the smile on other the LOOK is a touch on the grip of struggle,

to classic of difference in that Horn of delight Coffee in memory the hat for the Night.

Staff the sender with Tender Relieved than on the Morning Christmas has heaved,

back to the brumbie of calendar Sleep is the back of the basic in the Mass of a torn,

to have The Hammer made Simple it is in the Hands of the ink as Nails in settlings are Cloaks.

Clogs on the sound to the Pounder profession is not in the gamble of Left by the train,

preparation as Fork Most to the Placement of Cork the cloth Fancies table as the Seat is of Sort,

to riddle this Signature a practical Snare the trapper of Snapper is good Sense to the Care.

To wine openers case of the bottle by Nose in serious lands the glass is of glass,

the simple of design to the complex of the line in a wrapping of gorgon but reason to rhyme,

pact to the vow of the vow to the Vow in the vow of the vow on the Vow as a vow the only lead to have vowed.

Born subject as whistle in the classical denail of life itself is life being death at life dead alive on deck,

go to the starter on The Gate of the pork in the swindle of pigeon the Crow is The Black,

score with the Changer and know of The Wise as in that Creation it's a formula tied.

Ask of the notation to the stub of the stow in that Is Hence look at the crib,

ankles from letter to tot as a kid that cream is of addition to the Milk of the stick,

to corporal system in Operational seams is not the candor the britches of genes.

Tack with The Cutters at the granite of quarry in The Tractor of drills is the dynamite lovely,

to plug on those straps and drive for the Price is just as the time on the clock of the Sings,

in Up on the fortified to Wonder of strange the tug is of Curtain till a girl hits your choice.

The Write Work

Select words which precisely fit their contexts in meaning, attitude, and suggestiveness.

Selection of the right word for each job is not easy.  Knowledge of meanings is fundamental in defining.  The choice usually is not a simple one between tow words, one of which is wrong and one of which is right.  Words are more or less expressive, more or less precise, more or less instinct with the power to make the reader see, hear, feel, or understand.  Words should be chosen for many qualifications---their sound, their associations, their currency, their meaning, and many others.  But meaning is of first importance.

The "meaning of meaning"

Strictly speaking, no word has a meaning as a physical object can have length.  The bars of metal in the Bureau of Standards, for instance, which determine our inches and feet, keep the same length at a given temperature.  They always have the same length, whoever measures them, so long as the measuring is accurately done, but now words are kept at a controlled temperature in the Bureau of Standards.  Words exist only in people's minds, and all minds are different.  No word has a "meaning" which it inevitably calls up in everbody's mind.

Theoretically, then, Humpty Dumpty is entirely justified in telling Alice, "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean---neither more nor less."  There is no authority to keep him from using the word glory, as he does, to mean there's a nice knock-down argument for you.   Practically, however, Humpty is not communicating very accurately or economically.  Words do not have any mystical connection with a particular "meaning," but communication is possible only because at any time in history by common agreement people associate certain words with certain thoughts.  We can communicate because we agree, closely enough for practical purposes, to let certain words symbolize certain ideas.

The writer, then, must attempt first of all to choose the word which will most nearly convey to the reader what he is thinking.  the selection is not always easy.  Many ideas are so complex or so subtle that only careful thinking will discover words to convey them exactly.  Some words are so vague or subject to such varied interpretations that their usefulness is limited.  But care helps, and this blog and words usage are always available as guides to basic relationship between words, actions, thoughts.

Word in their contexts

Mechanical reliance on dictionary definitions, however is not enough.  Dictionaries list various meanings for words, and no word conveys meaning except in its context.  Words affect, and are affected by, the words with which they are used.  Consider, for example, the following sentences;

My love is like a red, red rose.

The love of money is the root of all evil.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Friendship is Love without wings.

The score was forty-love.

Lord is love.

The word love appears in each sentence, but its meaning is different in each.  The context, the company the word keeps in its sentence, indicates to the reader its meaning.

The writer attempting to select the exact word for his purposes must choose with the remainder of his sentence in mind.  Even synonyms cannot be interchanged at random.  For example, dictionaries list exonerate as a synonym for the verb clear.  In a sentence like In the trial the ex-convict was cleared, the substitution would not serve in a sentence like Mary cleared the dishes from the table.  Words must be chosen to convey exact meanings in their contexts.

Concrete and abstract

Nobody can photograph unhappiness.  One can photograph a woman in tears, a grim-faced undernourished child, or a workman contemplating a notice of dismissal.  Through the pictures one may communicate unhappiness.

Unhappiness can be called abstract; the woman who can be photographed can be called concrete.  Thus, the word unhappiness can be called more abstract than the word woman.  Roughly one can say that abstract words refer to generalities or to ideas and that concrete words refer to generalities or to ideas and that concrete words refer to things or objects, but the statement requires two qualifications.

First, the distinction between abstract and concrete is relative, like the distinction between general and specific.  Compare the following:

There was something on the table.

There was food on the table.

There was a bowl of fruit on the table.

Food is more concrete than something, bowl of fruit more concrete than food.  The ideas become more specific; the words become more concrete and increase in exactness and suggestiveness as they do so.

Second, just as the general develops out of the specific abstract expressions grow from more concrete ones.  Color stands for a thought which could be expressed only with considerable indirection if we had only more concrete terms like red, yellow, blue, green.

Both concrete and abstract terms, therefore, are necessary in any writing, but often specific words clarify an excessively abstract style.  Consider the following sentence proposed by George Orwell to illustrate how some writers might translate a passage of the Bible:

     Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.

The sentence exaggerates, but it suggests how abstractions piled upon abstractions can obscure ideas.  Compare the passage from Ecclesiastes which Orwell has "translated."

     I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

Instead of one general statement, the original uses five specific examples; instead of abstractions like consideration, phenomena, conclusion, success, and failure, the original uses more concrete words like race, battle, bread, and riches.  Almost always, clear and accurate writing uses concrete words whenever possible.