{"id":119362,"date":"2017-12-28T13:00:37","date_gmt":"2017-12-28T18:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=119362"},"modified":"2017-12-19T11:12:42","modified_gmt":"2017-12-19T16:12:42","slug":"making-oneself-less-unreadable-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/","title":{"rendered":"On Making Oneself Less Unreadable"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>We\u2019re away until January 3, but we\u2019re reposting some of our favorite pieces from 2017. Enjoy your holiday!<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_118849\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/img_2118.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-118849\" class=\"size-large wp-image-118849\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/img_2118-1024x554.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"554\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/img_2118-1024x554.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/img_2118-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/img_2118-768x415.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-118849\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A\u00a0photograph of H. W. Fowler in sporting attire from his biography <em> The Warden of English<\/em>.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Grammar enthusiasts either love Henry Watson Fowler or they have yet to encounter his work. It is possible to read his <em>Dictionary of Modern Usage<\/em> (1926) from cover to cover as a weird, wonderful essay; it is impossible to do so without laughing out loud. A few entries from the second edition, revised by Ernest Gowers:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>avoidance of the obvious<\/strong> is very well, provided that it is not itself obvious; but, if it is, all is spoilt. [If the reader believes] that you are attitudinizing as an epicure of words for whom nothing but the rare is good enough, or, worse still, that you are painfully endeavouring to impart some much needed unfamiliarity to a platitude, his feelings towards you will be something that is not admiration. The obvious is better than obvious avoidance of it &#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/04\/making-oneself-less-unreadable\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Read More &gt;&gt;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re away until January 3, but we\u2019re reposting some of our favorite pieces from 2017. Enjoy your holiday! &nbsp; Grammar enthusiasts either love Henry Watson Fowler or they have yet to encounter his work. It is possible to read his Dictionary of Modern Usage (1926) from cover to cover as a weird, wonderful essay; it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1325,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32152],"tags":[31977,31973,31975,231,31974,31976],"class_list":["post-119362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of-2017","tag-concise-oxford-english-dictionary","tag-dictionary-of-modern-usage","tag-ernest-gowers","tag-grammar","tag-henry-watson-fowler","tag-oxford-dictionary"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>On Making Oneself Less Unreadable<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Grammar enthusiasts either love H. W. Fowler&#039;s \u2018Dictionary of Modern Usage\u2019 (1926) or they just haven&#039;t read it yet. Here are some excerpts.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On Making Oneself Less Unreadable by Hernan Diaz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"December 28, 2017 \u2013 We\u2019re away until January 3, but we\u2019re reposting some of our favorite pieces from 2017. Enjoy your holiday! &nbsp; Grammar enthusiasts either love Henry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-28T18:00:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/img_2118.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1635\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hernan Diaz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hernan Diaz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hernan Diaz\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/482ddac02f5eea32864d70c87d6a1458\"},\"headline\":\"On Making Oneself Less Unreadable\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-28T18:00:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":186,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/img_2118-1024x554.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Concise Oxford English Dictionary\",\"Dictionary of Modern Usage\",\"Ernest Gowers\",\"grammar\",\"Henry Watson Fowler\",\"Oxford Dictionary\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Best of 2017\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/\",\"name\":\"On Making Oneself Less Unreadable\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/img_2118-1024x554.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-28T18:00:37+00:00\",\"description\":\"Grammar enthusiasts either love H. W. Fowler's \u2018Dictionary of Modern Usage\u2019 (1926) or they just haven't read it yet. Here are some excerpts.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/img_2118.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/img_2118.jpg\",\"width\":3024,\"height\":1635,\"caption\":\"a photo of H. W. Fowler in sporting attire from his biography The Warden of English\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"On Making Oneself Less Unreadable\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/482ddac02f5eea32864d70c87d6a1458\",\"name\":\"Hernan Diaz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f282b274a86d4707a5f72df3275d37ce26fe7e2eb160a19ea1501f30b275b77?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f282b274a86d4707a5f72df3275d37ce26fe7e2eb160a19ea1501f30b275b77?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hernan Diaz\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/hdiaz\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"On Making Oneself Less Unreadable","description":"Grammar enthusiasts either love H. W. Fowler's \u2018Dictionary of Modern Usage\u2019 (1926) or they just haven't read it yet. Here are some excerpts.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"On Making Oneself Less Unreadable by Hernan Diaz","og_description":"December 28, 2017 \u2013 We\u2019re away until January 3, but we\u2019re reposting some of our favorite pieces from 2017. Enjoy your holiday! &nbsp; Grammar enthusiasts either love Henry","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2017-12-28T18:00:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":3024,"height":1635,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/img_2118.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hernan Diaz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hernan Diaz","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Hernan Diaz","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/482ddac02f5eea32864d70c87d6a1458"},"headline":"On Making Oneself Less Unreadable","datePublished":"2017-12-28T18:00:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/"},"wordCount":186,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/img_2118-1024x554.jpg","keywords":["Concise Oxford English Dictionary","Dictionary of Modern Usage","Ernest Gowers","grammar","Henry Watson Fowler","Oxford Dictionary"],"articleSection":["Best of 2017"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/","name":"On Making Oneself Less Unreadable","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/img_2118-1024x554.jpg","datePublished":"2017-12-28T18:00:37+00:00","description":"Grammar enthusiasts either love H. W. Fowler's \u2018Dictionary of Modern Usage\u2019 (1926) or they just haven't read it yet. Here are some excerpts.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/img_2118.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/img_2118.jpg","width":3024,"height":1635,"caption":"a photo of H. W. Fowler in sporting attire from his biography The Warden of English"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/28\/making-oneself-less-unreadable-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"On Making Oneself Less Unreadable"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/482ddac02f5eea32864d70c87d6a1458","name":"Hernan Diaz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f282b274a86d4707a5f72df3275d37ce26fe7e2eb160a19ea1501f30b275b77?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f282b274a86d4707a5f72df3275d37ce26fe7e2eb160a19ea1501f30b275b77?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hernan Diaz"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/hdiaz\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1325"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119362"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119568,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119362\/revisions\/119568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}