Style books: not necessarily terribly boring

The one good thing about feeling lousy enough to have to stay in bed is that I had enough time to do my annual reading of Strunk and White's Elements of Style. I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, but I read this little gem every year.

I started this annual ritual in grad school. When I first got a copy of it, I read it from cover to cover, then periodically referred back to it. One day, I found myself looking something up, and then rereading the entire thing and forgetting what I had just read only a few months earlier. I decided then that until I can read it without rediscovering something new, I'd keep reading it each year.

It really doesn't take that long to do, and I feel like after many readings, I still (re)learn something after each reading. After all, it's only 80-something pages, and it is packed with useful information. I feel like after my nth (5>n>10) reading, I should know everything in this book. For the most part, much of it is review, as it should be--e.g., distinction between when to use semicolons versus commas. But it is also humbling--humbling--how much I forget. I, who like to think of myself as having a fairly decent command of grammar. (Yes, I know that wasn't a full sentence.)

Lest you think a style guide is nothing but boring rules, the folks who wrote this actually have quite a sharp sense of humor. (According to this same style guide, I'm not supposed to use "quite" so often, because it is one of the most hackneyed expressions. Ah well.) They also use lively language that evokes vivid imagery.

For example, some gems I unearthed:
"Avoid the use of qualifiers. Rather, very, little, pretty--these are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words."

Maybe I don't read enough interesting books, but I haven't read anything recently that is so graphic and disgusting. (It is so vividly disgusting that I just covered up every bare patch of skin in case such a leech is lurking about my freshly cleaned apartment and wants to attack my midriff. Ewwwwwwww.)

This is regarding word usage:
"Prestigious. Often an adjective of last resort. It's in the dictionary, but that doesn't mean you have to use it."

Touché.
Also from this same section:
"The truth is. . . A bad beginning for a sentence. If you feel you are possessed of the truth. . .simply state it. Do not give it advance billing."

I wish my dictionary were as punchy.

My favorite is their take on the word flammable. Although I don't necessarily agree with the authors, their entry makes me chortle because it conjures up an image of some crotchety old man typing this away at his typewriter, whilst shaking his head and thinking to himself, "these blathering idiots. . ."

"Flammable. An oddity, chiefly useful in saving lives. The common word meaning combustible is inflammable. But some people are thrown off by the in. . . trucks carrying gasoline or explosives are now marked FLAMMABLE. Unless you are operation such a truck and hence are concerned with the safety of children and illiterates, use inflammable.

In an ideal world, if everyone read Strunk and White every year, we wouldn't have this confusion. However, this is one instance where I disagree with the authors. I think that in an academic setting where there is no danger of ambiguity, I'd use inflammable. But in most cases, if inflammable is confusing to most, then I don't see a problem with using flammable. However, inflammable is one of these badly engineered words where both the word and its seemingly opposite mean the same thing.

It's kindof similar to the expressions, " I know jack." and "I don't know jack."
These two seemingly opposite-sounding phrases should have, well, opposite meanings. But they both mean the same thing: "I know jack about Xenakis." "I don't know jack about Xenakis."

There is no entry about knowing or not knowing jack in Strunk and White. I guess jack wasn't part of common parlance back in 1959.

There were many other amusing tidbits, but since I'm sure most of you don't find style guides entertaining, I will spare you.

But do go read Strunk and White.

Based on all of the "new" things I relearned, it looks like I need to add it (again) to my reading list for next year.