I wish that I could buy at the shops some kind of
india-rubber that would rub out at once all that in my
writing which it now costs me so many perusals, so many
months if not years, and so much reluctance, to erase.Henry David Thoreau, Dec. 27, 1853
Henry has been observing the snow and its ability to disguise and clothe the countryside and in true Thoreauvian fashion he uses it as an analogy of a common writer's problem. Question is, do we handle the problem of word choice or verboseness well in 2009 – or indeed, is the erasure problem more of a dilemma today than it ever was in Henry's time?
True, today we can erase and change our words with great speed and efficiency, but do we? If ten words are good, are not twenty words better? We have the ease of delivery but do we have the wisdom to know when we have said enough? Consider the 'reluctance' factor that Henry speaks of? Are we too fond of our words? Yes.
To quote Pythagoras,
"Do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in a few."
OK. Blog away my friend, but please say something.
