The Penguin Guide to Plain English

But combinations establish themselves w hich lack spark or freshness

and w hich are done to death by over-use. Habit then prevents the quick
speaker or quick w riter from using the dom inant w ord in the com bination
w ithout the other. We hear that someone is totally com m itted to a
project or thoroughly tired of some involvement. W ords such as totally
and thoroughly (which the grammarians call intensifiers) increase the
force o f w hat is said, but so vaguely and colourlessly as to be little
m ore than the equivalent o f underlining or italicizing the w ords they
accompany. Similarly we say something is completely useless or som e
one is utterly stupid and the words com pletely and utterly, although
they are in themselves meaningful w ords w hen properly used, in that
context just exercise that function of intensifying the words useless and
stupid w ithout any connotative clarity.
W hen over-use leads to an automatic coupling o f such words, then
meaningful w ords are diluted o f content, and are turned into colourless
intensifiers. H es hopelessly inefficient, w e say, and the w ord hope
lessly means no m ore than very or thoroughly w ould have meant.
This does not just apply to adverbs such as utterly and thoroughly and
hopelessly. Adjectives too can be so over-used in certain combinations
that they are deprived o f content, and function only to lay emphasis on
the words they are partnered with. W hen w e read that some advertiser
is offering us a unique opportunity we understand that the opportunity
is supposed to be a considerable one, but the w ord unique does not
convey anything clearer than that. Over-use has emasculated it.
The careful w riter will always be on guard against falling back on
w ords w hich serve only as counters for enhancing the im portance o f the
w ords they accompany. Not every opportunity is a golden opportunity,
not every failure a dismal failure. Indeed it is even possible to beat a
retreat that is not hasty.
There are, however, a couple of now m uch-used com binations w hich
deserve attention. I have just heard a com m ent on a sportsman w ho
surprised by suddenly achieving success after a string of mediocre per
formances. The com m entator said he was shaking off his w ooden-spoon
reputation. The image o f the w ooden spoon is in popular use just now.
In the early tw entieth century the person w ho achieved the w orst result
in such organized competitive activities as w hist drives w ould be pre
sented w ith the booby prize. The use of the w ord booby for a silly
person was clearly well established in the eighteenth century w hen