Strunk and White lists words and phrases that are often misused. This is an important chapter of their book. I want to write about words that are not misused, but rather, overused to the point that their meaning is lost. They may be common or have multiple appropriate meanings, but to better communicate the writer should swap them out for words that have innuendoes that add meaning to the writing. These words are shallow and they infect our writing with shallowness, preventing complexity that adds interest. These words are chameleons that blend in with any surrounding. We want words that stand out and stand for something, words that have meaning. Every word we write should add to the picture, like that individual brushstrokes of a master artist. The words are Jackson Pollack droolings that are hit and miss, and random.
The bandit for today is “only.” It is a word that comes from a dreaded family called adverbs. They only exist to torture your noble nouns, and vigilant verbs. You can tell by the family name “ly,” that only is meant to be wantonly weak. So by pedigree you should have an aversion for the wimpy word.
It can mean merely, lone, exclusively, simply, barely, no more than, or it can refer to occurrence such as “it only happened yesterday.” It can describe a number or amount, “it is only three feet deep.” It trivializes situations as in “the rescue only required guts.” Or “he was only a farmer’s daughter.” That might be an eye catcher, and a good use of only, maybe. Or it could be that “he was the only one left standing.” Only is a jerk of all trades and a master of only one, or maybe none.
I personally want to use it only when I have to. So I want to put it away where it can’t hurt my writing. I rarely parole it from the holding cell. I think you should banish it too.
If you have any words to nominate for incarceration please forward them with the reason why to newsletter@monmouthwriters.com.
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