| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
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| ABSTRACTITIS |
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The clearest prose is usually the most specific. Consider this verse from Ecclesiastes:| | I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. (Eccles. 9:11) |
and George Orwell’s parody of it, a splendid example of abstractitis:| | Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account. |
| (in Dean, Gibson, and Wilson 1971:307) |
Fowler’s (1965) term for the overuse of abstract language quite properly made a disease of it (by means of the suffix -itis). Polysyllabic, low-frequency words, ponderous, convoluted syntax, and circumlocutions contribute to abstractitis, and too much passive voice often makes it worse. See also ABSTRACT NOUNS; SCIENTIFIC ENGLISH; VOICE (2). | 1 |
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| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
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