I came across this very wise cartoon a while ago - in a post explaining 'fuzzy logic'! (more here, if you share my fascination) - on a dangerously diverting website called MathWorks. I find it a nice summation of the dilemmas I face every day in my writing: the unending battles between comprehensiveness and conciseness, and between elegance and just getting the goddamned point across. These things are a particular challenge in a lot of the editing and copy writing work I do.
In my professional life, I do mostly manage to come down on the side of conciseness. In my personal writing, though, and especially in my e-mailing, I confess I am prone to being over-thorough. On the blogs, I hope to find a middle path; but I fear that Golden Mean proves very elusive, and I'm probably always falling well to one side or the other of that ideal.
Aha - it was of course JES who first led me to this!
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