The Philosophy of Style | Page 3

same generalization. If
it be an advantage to express an idea in the smallest number of words,
then will it be an advantage to express it in the smallest number of
syllables. If circuitous phrases and needless expletives distract the
attention and diminish the strength of the impression produced, then do
surplus articulations do so. A certain effort, though commonly an
inappreciable one, must be required to recognize every vowel and
consonant. If, as all know, it is tiresome to listen to an indistinct
speaker, or read a badly-written manuscript; and if, as we cannot doubt,
the fatigue is a cumulative result of the attention needed to catch

successive syllables; it follows that attention is in such cases absorbed
by each syllable. And if this be true when the syllables are difficult of
recognition, it will also be true, though in a less degree, when the
recognition of them is easy. Hence, the shortness of Saxon words
becomes a reason for their greater force. One qualification, however,
must not be overlooked. A word which in itself embodies the most
important part of the idea to be conveyed, especially when that idea is
an emotional one, may often with advantage be a polysyllabic word.
Thus it seems more forcible to say, "It is _magnificent,_" than "It is
_grand._" The word vast is not so powerful a one as _stupendous._
Calling a thing nasty is not so effective as calling it _disgusting._
§ 7. There seem to be several causes for this exceptional superiority of
certain long words. We may ascribe it partly to the fact that a
voluminous, mouth-filling epithet is, by its very size, suggestive of
largeness or strength; witness the immense pomposity of
sesquipedalian verbiage: and when great power or intensity has to be
suggested, this association of ideas aids the effect. A further cause may
be that a word of several syllables admits of more emphatic articulation;
and as emphatic articulation is a sign of emotion, the unusual
impressiveness of the thing named is implied by it. Yet another cause is
that a long word (of which the latter syllables are generally inferred as
soon as the first are spoken) allows the hearer’s consciousness a longer
time to dwell upon the quality predicated; and where, as in the above
cases, it is to this predicated quality that the entire attention is called, an
advantage results from keeping it before the mind for an appreciable
time. The reasons which we have given for preferring short words
evidently do not hold here. So that to make our generalization quite
correct we must say, that while in certain sentences expressing strong
feeling, the word which more especially implies that feeling may often
with advantage be a many-syllabled or Latin one; in the immense
majority of cases, each word serving but as a step to the idea embodied
by the whole sentence, should, if possible, be a one-syllabled or Saxon
one.
§ 8. Once more, that frequent cause of strength in Saxon and other
primitive words-their imitative character may be similarly resolved into
the more general cause. Both those directly imitative, as _splash, bang,
whiz, roar,_ &c., and those analogically imitative, as _rough, smooth,

keen, blunt, thin,_ hard, crag,_ &c., have a greater or less likeness to
the things symbolized; and by making on the senses impressions allied
to the ideas to be called up, they save part of the effort needed to call up
such ideas, and leave more attention for the ideas themselves.
§ 9. The economy of the recipient’s mental energy, into which are thus
resolvable the several causes of the strength of Saxon English, may
equally be traced in the superiority of specific over generic words. That
concrete terms produce more vivid impressions than abstract ones, and
should, when possible, be used instead, is a thorough maxim of
composition. As Dr. Campbell says, "The more general the terms are,
the picture is the fainter; the more special they are, ‘tis the brighter."
We should avoid such a sentence as:--"In proportion as the manners,
customs, and amusements of a nation are cruel and barbarous, the
regulations of their penal code will be severe." And in place of it we
should write:--"In proportion as men delight in battles, bull-fights, and
combats of gladiators, will they punish by hanging, burning, and the
rack."
§ 10. This superiority of specific expressions is clearly due to a saving
of the effort required to translate words into thoughts. As we do not
think in generals but in particulars--as, whenever any class of things is
referred to, we represent it to ourselves by calling to mind individual
members of it; it follows that when an abstract word is used, the bearer
or reader has to choose from his stock of images, one or more, by
which he