A Frugality of Words

Frugality–it gets to be a lifestyle and can be developed into an art. All my life, I’ve tried to be frugal. Used to be, being frugal was not much fun, but I’ve grown to rather enjoy it. Thriftiness is kind of like a game, seeing how little money I can spend from month to month. Not being frugal might be fun too and I’d like to give it a try sometime, should the opportunity arise.

I do believe the art of frugality can be applied to the words we spend, as well as to money. I mean the spoken word as well as the written word. It is my opinion that if people employed frugality of words concerning politics, our ears would appreciate it. That reminds me of the adage, “Least said, soonest mended.” But, I digress.

World Book Dictionaries

Because I love words and the English language with all its nuances and subtleties, I tend to wax flowery at times. Yes, I admit it. I use too many words to express a point. Someone can ask me the time and I tell them how to build a clock. But, in writing, this is a big no-no. Editing is using a knife to slice excess verbage. It’s like going on a strenuous diet. I love expressive adjectives and adverbs. They modify and fine-tune nouns and verbs. However, they may just be extraneous. An action verb with no adverb to help it along gets the point across more quickly and strongly.

So, I try. I look at some of the writers I most admire. I’ve found that a well-established author with a loyal following can get by with bending a few rules a lot more readily than those of us who are still out there. One author I’ve always admired and tried to emulate in many ways is Mary Roberts Rinehart. As you can see, I have several of her books. She lived from 1876 to 1958, an old-fashioned writer, but her works still sell well. I’ve just finished reading Locked Doors. I may have read it before, but it was a long time ago. It was too short. I wanted it to go on and on. Now I’m reading Sight Unseen. I know I’ve read it, but it was a long time ago. Her books hold my attention from beginning to end. Like the old-time Hollywood actresses, she tells her stories with no curse words and no lurid sex scenes.

It is my humble opinion that if a speaker or a writer can’t get her point across without embellishing her speech or book with profanity, what she’s got to say is not worth saying. These words don’t add to the message; rather, they are a rude distraction.

I fear I may be in the minority here, but maybe not. Maybe there is a silent majority who agree with me.

Being frugal in both word and deed is an art form that can be perfected to a high degree. It’s kind of fun to work at getting there.