{"id":1270,"date":"2008-03-10T01:05:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-10T08:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/?p=1270"},"modified":"2008-03-10T01:05:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-10T08:05:00","slug":"other_matters_language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2008\/03\/other_matters_language\/","title":{"rendered":"Other Matters: Language"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the second section of Strunk and White’s English usage bible The Elements Of Style<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Omit needless words.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Harold Ross, the founding editor of The New Yorker,<\/em> wrote in a memo to his staff, “The next writer around here who uses ‘upcoming’ will be outgoing.” <\/p>\n

That’s a good word to put at the top of a list of needless, overused and annoying words and phrases. Here is the first dozen.<\/p>\n

upcoming<\/o:p><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

absent  <\/span>(as a preposition)<\/o:p><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

area (as an adjective)<\/o:p><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

as it were<\/o:p><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

at this point in time <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

case in point<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

if you will<\/o:p><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

like (as an interjection)<\/o:p><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

ongoing<\/o:p><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

the likes of<\/o:p><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

that said<\/o:p><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

y’know<\/o:p><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Edwin Newman of NBC News recalled the time a man he was interviewing told him, “Well, y’know, y’never know, y’know.” <\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

The Rifftides<\/em> staff solicits your suggestions for additions to the list.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the second section of Strunk and White’s English usage bible The Elements Of Style:   Omit needless words. Harold Ross, the founding editor of The New Yorker, wrote in a memo to his staff, “The next writer around here who uses ‘upcoming’ will be outgoing.” That’s a good word to put at the top of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}