Wednesday, December 16, 2015

“Resounding words and flowery phrases”

From Bryan Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day:

The tendency to resort to polysyllabic vocabulary is not usually the fault of the user. His high school teachers may have encouraged him to indulge in resounding words and flowery phrases; perhaps because their teachers had never impressed upon them the virtue of simplicity.

Ellsworth Barnard, English for Everybody (1979).
The Usage Tip of the Day is available by e-mail only. Follow the link above, scroll down, and you’ll find the address to write to.

Related reading
All OCA Garner-centric posts (Pinboard)
Beware of the saurus
A wrong-headed “dead words” movement

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