Wednesday, June 17, 2009

quote for the day

"If there is an underlying metaphysical principle guiding The Elements of Style (the one with White's additional chapter) it is something like the following: language is simple, direct, and expressive… except that it's magical, dynamic, and unfettered.

White looks at Thomas Paine's famous sentence, "These are the times that try men's souls." He tries switching it around to, "Times like these try men's souls." It crashes to the ground. Why? We simply do not know. No explanation seems adequate. Try it yourself. Try to actually explain, with reasons and causes, why the one sentence sets the aforementioned soul stirring while the other practically extinguishes it.

As White says, we usually end up explaining the difference with such words as "rhythm" and "cadence." But what are we really explaining with those words? We're still just saying that one sentence simply sounds better than the other. That's not explanation — it’s obfuscation. The first sentence is better and we damn well know it. We don't know why. But we know it, as certain as the hand in front of one's face, the rain falling on the plain."
Morgan Meis, via Andrew Sullivan

5 comments:

the Brother said...

Somewhat akin to Potter Stewart's "I can't define pornography, but I know it when I see it", or do I just have porn on the brain?

daveawayfromhome said...

Maybe. I mean, ultimately, good writing (aside from grammar) is really an emotional issue. The same could be said for sexual matters.

And yes, you do have porn on the brain. Call your mother, that should cure you.

Omnipotent Poobah said...

Damn! That's my problem. I'm going back to reverse engineer everything I've ever written to something more "soul stirring"

daveawayfromhome said...

Nothing wrong with your writing, Poobie. Or were you talking about Porn On The Brain?

Omnipotent Poobah said...

Well, I have porn on the brain too, but I was actually talking about myself