'Barbarous Terms and Expressions'

One of my favorite letters in literary history is known as “A Letter to a Young Clergyman,” written by Jonathan Swift in 1619-20 and published on January 9, 1721. I remembered it recently when a young reader/writer asked me what she ought to read to help her write more plainly, “to use fewer words and be clearer.” I sent her Swift’s letter and quoted its best-known sentence: “Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of a style.” She objected that this is too general to be helpful and, with qualifications, I agree. 

As a corollary, I suggested she read every sentence she writes aloud or at least under her breath, and ask, “What can I delete?” The first step in editing requires a certain ruthlessness. Kill that deathless prose. Distrust or ignore style guides and how-to-write manuals. Beware of jargon and clichés. Become an apprentice to language and assume that every text can be shortened. Don’t fall in love with the sound of your own voice. Swift goes on:

 

“I should likewise have been glad, if you had applied yourself a little more to the study of the English language, than I fear you have done; the neglect whereof is one of the most general defects among the scholars of this kingdom, who seem not to have the least conception of a style, but run on in a flat kind of phraseology, often mingled with barbarous terms and expressions, peculiar to the nation: Neither do I perceive that any person, either finds or acknowledges his wants upon this head, or in the least desires to have them supplied.”

 

As to works of literature embodying clean, elegant, stripped-down styles, I suggested the prose of Swift, Evelyn Waugh and J.V. Cunningham.