OCCAM'S PENCIL

I had the idea for 'Occam's Pencil' today. I don't know if it's quite right yet, but it seems like a good principle:

"If you can say something as simply as possible, you should always do so."

I saw something that sounded very grand and philosophical today, but it made no sense. It was worded so strangely, and with such convolution, that I realised I had no idea what it meant at all - making me feel a bit thick - and I'm certain that that wasn't this person's intention.

True, Occam's Pencil doesn't work well for poetry or descriptive language. And applying it strictly, removes the diplomatic nuances that might protect you from a black eye. We all like simple honesty, but too simple and too honest and it can really hurt.

But Occam's Pencil does work for technical writing! Like a dream! You find yourself taking out all the words that don't add anything to the sentence and your writing takes on a clear, translucent simplicity. Every word does its job without any nonsense.

The other thing that Occam's Pencil makes you do is organise your thoughts. I realised I needed it while trying to pin down the difference between 'that' and 'which' with Erica this afternoon. I heard myself say something like:

"Yes so I think 'comma which' is for those moments when you're talking about a thing that's from a selection of other similar things and you want to refer to the one thing from the selection, like 'the apple, which I picked from the basket' instead of the apple 'that' I picked from the basket, which is different.'

She looked at me blankly. I'll be honest, I looked at myself blankly. I still have no idea what I was on about or why it was different. Applying Occam's Pencil might have helped me.

Emails are another place for using it. I write wordy emails all the time - mostly in some vain attempt to combat the terseness of some of the messages I receive! I could remove some of those flowery adverbs that creep in, like 'unfortunately' or 'appropriately' and 'categorically' - Occam's Pencil crosses out those blighters, that's for sure - and often for the best!

So, perhaps in the quest for 'Clear Information' (as part of my 'Good Communication' thinking) I'll write out Occam's Pencil on a post-it and stick it to my desk. It's definitely worth thinking through, even if I haven't quite nailed it yet.

And next time I write an email, I'll definitely, totally, absolutely, be on the lookout for those pesky unnecessary adverbs.