[Note: A later post about “preventative” appeared on Feb. 24, 2025.]
Q: On Pat’s last WNYC appearance, she discussed people who add extra syllables to words in an attempt to make them (the words and the people) seem more impressive: for example, “orientate” instead of “orient” and “preventative” instead of “preventive.” Here’s a little poem that came to me after listening to you:
An ounce of preventative’s
Worth two pounds of cure.
But just one pound of curative.
Of this I am sure.The longer a word is
The more it will mean.
So don’t get a tetanus shot
Get a tetanus vaccine.
A: Our hats are off to you! Thank you very much.
You can find “orientate” and “preventative” in standard dictionaries, and nothing’s wrong with the longer forms. The choice is up to you. But we think the extra syllable in such words is unnecessary and weakens writing.
In the “Pompous Circumstances” chapter of Pat’s writing guide, Words Fail Me, she compares these words to stretch limos that are used just to make an impression.
A good writer doesn’t use words that are longer than they have to be. Shorter is usually better, and often more beautiful, as in this excerpt from When You Are Old, a poem by William Butler Yeats:
When you are old and gray and full of sleep
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep.
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