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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
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David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
June 24, 2008
/ 21 Sivan 5768
The Power Of Short Words
By
Richard Lederer
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
I'm careful of the words I choose.
I like them short and sweet.
Because I cannot ever know
Which ones I'll have to eat.
Contrary to what some people seem to believe, simple writing is not the
product of simple minds. Asimple, unpretentious style has both grace and power.
By not calling attention to itself, it allows the reader to focus on the message.
Good writers are not afraid to use short, everyday words. They know it's
possible to write clearly, convincingly and even powerfully with short words.
An item titled "The Long and Short of It," from the Members' Handbook of
SPELL the Society for the Preservation of English Language and Literature
illustrates:
"You don't have to use long words when you write. Most of the time, you
can make your points quite well with short ones. In fact, big words may get in
the way of what you want to say. And what's more, when you write with short
words, no one will need to look them up to learn what they mean.
"Short words can make us feel good. They can run and jump and dance and
soar high in the clouds. They can kill the chill of a cold night and help us keep
cool on a hot day. They fill our hearts with joy, but they can bring tears to our
eyes, too. A short word can be soft or strong. It can sting like a bee or sing like
a lark. Small words of love can move us, charm us, lull us to sleep. Short words
give us light and hope and peace and love and health and a lot more good things.
A small word can be as sweet as the taste of a ripe pear, or tart like plum jam.
Small words help us to think. They are, in truth, the heart and the soul of clear
thought.
"When you write, choose the short word if you can find one that will let
you say what you want to say. If there is no short one that fills the bill, then
go ahead and consider the utilization of a sesquipedalian expression as a viable
alternative, but be cognizant of the actuality that it could conceivably be
incumbent upon many of your perusers to expend, by consulting a dictionary
or perhaps an alternate lexicon of particularized patois, copious quantities of
their invaluable time in attempting to determine the message you are endeavoring
to impart to them through the instrumentality of your missive."
Note that until the word ahead, all the words are cobbled from a single syllable.
Now that we're polysyllabically positioned, let's bloviate loquaciously
with this classic hippopotamomonstrosesquipedalian statement:
"In promulgating your esoteric cogitations or articulating your super
ficial
sentimentalities and amicable, philosophical, or psychological observations,
beware of platitudinous ponderosity.
"Let your conversation and communications possess a clarified conciseness,
a compact comprehensibility, a coalescent consistency, and a concatenated
cogency.
"Eschew all conglomerations of flatulant, bloviated vapidity, jejune babblement
and asinine affectations.
"Let your extemporaneous descantings and unpremeditated expatiations
possess intelligibility and veracious vivacity, without rodomontade or thrasonical
bombast. Sedulously eschew all polysyllabic profundity, pompous
prolixity, sebaceous vacuity, ventriloquial verbosity and grandiloquent
garrulity."
That is, talk and write in short words.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Richard Lederer Archives
Comment by clicking here.JWR contributor Richard Lederer is a language maven. More than a million of his books, which have been Book-of-the-Month Club and Literary Guild alternate selections, are in print. His latest work is Presidential Trivia: The Feats, Fates, Families, Foibles, and Firsts of Our American Presidents
© 2008, Richard Lederer
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