Saturday, February 27, 2010

Some VERY Good Advice for Writers

"Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very'; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be." ~Mark Twain

This reminds me of a conversation during an Intercultural Workshop I attended in Germany on the topic of Americans' overuse of superlatives.  I was the only American in the room to defend us all, and I wasn't an effective defender because I'm very damn fond of using superlatives.

3 comments:

  1. Very true!

    But, I think I like "damn true" even better :-)
    By the way, we also overuse the smiley. I have become conditioned to using it from my students. Quite sad, don't you think?

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  2. I like to use <3. And, I'm damn proud of it.

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  3. Don't forget LOL.

    Kathryn F.C.

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