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Talk radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity often use the phrase "for all intents and purposes." I believe this is unnecessary padding of any sentence in which it appears. I have never yet read or heard that phrase in any context wherein it could not be deleted without changing the meaning or the impact of the sentence.
Even Martin S. Pribble who is a writer I admire, recently wrote: "But to think that a conspiracy can be orchestrated on a global level where information about natural science and knowledge that for all intents and purposes should be publicly available, is ludicrous."
See what I mean? Remove the offending phrase and the meaning is unchanged. So, why add it? Perhaps to make the author of the sentence appear more 'literate?'
Could be . . .
Another unnecessary word that irritates me is 'very.' Adding very (or very, very, very) to a sufficiently descriptive adjective no longer affects its degree, probably because of its extreme overuse. Sometimes the word very appears in nearly every sentence, even from experienced speakers, such as politicians. I've heard celebrities on TV offer such ridiculous utterances as 'very marvelous' and 'very spectacular.'
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My word for today . . .
analogy
a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based.
Synonyms: comparison, likeness, resemblance, similitude, affinity.
An example of an analogy that I was taught in Electronics School is the similarity between electric current being forced to flow through a wire by a generator and water being forced to flow through a pipe by a pump.
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Neuron transplant in damaged brain fixes obesity is the title of an article I just read in New Scientist Magazine.
The article is short and to the point.
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I've said it before: I write in the voice of a child. That makes me readable in high school.
--Kurt Vonnegut
