聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 I just did something that I thought I would never do: I joined Twitter! Now I, along with millions of others, can add my two cents worth to the conversation (which is really nothing considering the status of the now defunct penny in Canada).
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Actually, my writing coach felt it was important to join, so my potential readers could get to know me better. So here I am, social media. I鈥檓 an open book鈥� er, I mean, tweet.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Actually Twitter might be a good fit for me with its 140-word limitation. After all, I was known as the 鈥渟lash and burn鈥� English teacher. 鈥淭oo wordy; very flowery; repetitive; get to the point; blah, blah, blah鈥� (sometimes I wasn鈥檛 very nice) were phrases I often scribbled in red ink across the pages of student essays.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Thomas Jefferson might have said, 鈥淭he most valuable of all talents is that of using two words when one will do.鈥� But try telling that to a 16-year-old Grade 11 student who is focused solely on providing 500 words (exactly that and no more) to his fussy teacher. When every word brought such a student closer to completion, there was a tendency to repeat ideas several times over, just to get the assignment out of the way (I often had essays submitted where I could still see the word count pencilled in, so obviously the rough copy and the final draft were one and the same).
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But it鈥檚 not only English teachers who expound the virtues of using a few, precise words to make a point. Albert Einstein quipped, 鈥淚f you can鈥檛 explain it simply, you don鈥檛 understand it well enough.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 And Martin Luther advised, 鈥淭he fewer the words, the better the prayer.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 With the purpose of having my students become more succinct and exact when writing, I often had them write a precis of a longer selection. I wanted them to see the value and effectiveness of using fewer, more suitable words.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 If you don鈥檛 think this was a valuable exercise, consider some of the most famous quotes in history. Caesar鈥檚 鈥淚 came, I saw, I conquered鈥� carries much more weight and authority than 鈥淚 arrived on the scene, I assessed the situation, and I proceeded to wage a victorious campaign.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 What if JFK had pronounced, 鈥淒on鈥檛 go around inquiring what benefits you might gain from the government, instead, step forward and offer any assistance that you might provide to your country?鈥� It doesn鈥檛 carry quite the same punch as, 鈥淎sk not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 We are constantly reminded to get to the point, cut to the chase, and quit beating around the bush. Shakespeare said it best in Hamlet, when he penned, 鈥淏revity is the soul of wit.鈥� So in the interests of wittiness and shortness, I鈥檓 out of here! See you on Twitter!
