Rule 17

Posted on October 24, 2002 in Irony & Sarcasm

Whoever posted the topic in Dalnet #politics the other day needed to apply Rule 17 from Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, which is “Omit needless words.”

The op had:

George Bush Sr. says son is facing the worst crisis since the American Civil War.

It is not necessary, in this writer’s opinion, to speak of George W. Bush, Jr. as if he were looking at himself in a mirror. The corrected sentence should read:

George Bush Sr. says son is facing the worst crisis since the American Civil War.