The Strunk cost fallacy stancarey.wordpress.com/2025/01/22/t... #langsky #writing - ThreadSky

stancarey.bsky.social • 109 days ago

The Strunk cost fallacy

https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2025/01/22/the-strunk-cost-fallacy/ #langsky #writing

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One can observe these shibboleths in one's own writing, for reasons of one's own, and yet not remark when others choose to write differently.

grahamguest.bsky.social•100 days ago

The grammarians Gwynne, Strunk and White
Said that people were not very bright
"You must follow our rules
Or be seen to be fools
For it's only us three who are right"

abadchoiceofwords.bsky.social•99 days ago

EoS was my first; CMoS, my second; then a no-name at my desk job. We call these things style guides—not authorities, but patterns to be picked up for expected places and expected purposes. There, they solve common problems in consistent ways across those target fields.

abadchoiceofwords.bsky.social•99 days ago

The deeper truths lie in the problems they seek to solve, and the mechanisms they use and abuse to do so. Consistency is still key, but it need not be 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘴. Styles are masks. You put them on, you take them off. And—when you learn what makes them tick—you make new masks for what you need.

johnnyvector.bsky.social•102 days ago

Brilliant. This will now coexist with Ciardi’s Law* as my overriding understanding of language.

*Language works the way it does because it does.

janfreeman.bsky.social•107 days ago

Just a delightful coinage, thanks. And here's my favorite Strunk & White fact: William Strunk did NOT observe the which/that distinction in the original "little book" he gave his students. White just imposed it on him posthumously!

(Then, no surprise, White broke the "rule" in Stuart Little.)

binkytoes.bsky.social•109 days ago

@tlbjames.bsky.social This is a short read you may enjoy

tlbjames.bsky.social•109 days ago

As with all things language, context is king. Though I may occasionally rib someone for typos or word misuse, I strongly advocate English's adaptability (I'm 75% descriptivist and 25% prescriptivist) and have learned to mostly limit my editor voice over the years to mostly professional cases.

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