Saying it ...on Paper
Richard Burton Haas

Obsah knihy

PřebalObsah epubTitulPoděkováníÚvodForeword12345678910111213141516171819202122AfterwordNa závěrObsahTiráž

Ukázka

4

Ukázka 2

7 7   A young woman named Hana told me I was too harsh about “very”. She said it was a handy word and that she often used it. “Probably too often,” I thought. “Very” is so overworked that it has lost its punch. “I saw a woman this morning,” Hana said, “and I thought she was very beautiful. What’s wrong with saying that?”   “There is nothing wrong with saying it,” I said, “and the way you pronounced ‘beautiful’ made ‘very’ unnecessary.” I reminded her that many of the things we say in conversation we would never accept in print. I explained that “beautiful” was a general term, and intensifying “beautiful” by attaching “very” to it emphasized the general nature of “beautiful”, and did not clarify the beauty of the woman. Then I suggested “glamorous”, “gorgeous”, “voluptuous”, and “stunning” because “very” does not sound appropriate when attached to these words, and they suggest more clearly the beauty of the woman. “Nevertheless,” she insisted, “the woman was very beautiful.” If this conversation had been a contest, Hana was far in the lead. “So,” she said in the manner Caesar might have spoken when returning from victorious battles, “what about ‘very’ is so very wrong?” I knew she would not accept my claim that “very” was overused, dried-out, and unnecessary, so I resorted to Mark Twain. She was interested. Twain said: “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.” A pedagogical victory, I thought. She considered Twain’s quotation, as she might ponder the purchase of a sweater, then said, “I’ll think about it. That’s very interesting.”

Ukázka 3

19