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Endeavour: Difference between revisions
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“''Very'' trying.”}} | “''Very'' trying.”}} | ||
“[[Endeavour]]” neatly illustrates the practical problem with plain English. It is a silly word: long; archaic; it conjures images of Captain Spaulding, in a pith helmet, slashing through jungle in the Congo on the hunt for Dr. Livingstone. Its alternative — “[[try]]” — is better in every way that a plain speaker cares about: shorter, more idiomatic, | “[[Endeavour]]” neatly illustrates the practical problem with plain English. It is a silly word: long; archaic; it conjures images of Captain Spaulding, in a pith helmet, slashing through jungle in the Congo on the hunt for Dr. Livingstone. Its alternative — “[[try]]” — is better in every way that a plain speaker cares about: shorter, more idiomatic, clearer, less fussy. | ||
But there, Dr. Livingstone I presume, lies the problem: “[[try]]” slices cleanly through the semantic murk that “[[endeavour]]” so | But there, Dr. Livingstone I presume, lies the problem: “[[try]]” slices cleanly through the semantic murk that “[[endeavour]]” so skilfully stirs up. It makes clear something the [[legal eagle]] rather hoped to obscure: namely, that to promise to ''try'' is a ''feeble'' [[covenant]], hardly worth the paper it is written on. | ||
Consider these alternatives: | Consider these alternatives: | ||