Ken quoting Orwell:
> • Never use a Metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
> • Never use a long word where a short one will do (see Short words).
> • If it is possible to cut out a word, always cut it out (see Unnecessary words).
> • Never use the Passive where you can use the active.
> • Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a Jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
> • Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous (see Iconoclasm).
My advice is never say never unless offered a chance to listen to Justin Bieber or watch a remake of The Karate Kid. (Now there's a good place to go nuts about capitalization--The Karate Kid. . . the Los Angeles Times but The New York Times. And don't get me started on The Ohio State University.) Sorry. Where was I? Anyway, there are good reasons to do each of the "nevers" above and the "always" is silly at best.
Like most simple rules about complex things, Orwell's are only help if you haven't a clue. (Ralph or anyone--Isn't that a basic cybernetics principle: the control system has to be more complex than the thing it controls?) Mencken usually gets credit for "For every complex problem, there is a simple answer and it is wrong" and variants on it. We could bring this back to design by listing "rules of typography" or "rules of user interface design," etc. They're just as bad.
On Sep 18, 2014, at 6:21 PM, Keith Russell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> PS - My Strunk and White as at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
There's quite a bit of toxic waste there. Let's not add to it. I find Strunk and White to be impressively un-instructive on top of being merely idiosyncratic (before becoming that AND weirdly anachronistic), being internally inconsistent, and being incorrect in its understanding of grammar. The elementary stylists were in good company on some of it. Notice Orwell's third "never" above. I have no idea whether G.O. was one of them but most people who object to the passive voice aren't really objecting to the passive voice, they just have their terminology wrong.)
Here's Geoffrey Pullum on the 50th anniversary of The Elements of Style:
http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/25497
Gunnar
Gunnar Swanson
East Carolina University
graphic design program
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cfac/soad/graphic/index.cfm
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