We Are a Tricksy Lawyer, Precious

I try really hard not to write in lawyerese, so far as I can dodge it. And by "lawyerese," I mean the stilted, formalistic writing that gives up meaning for length and vigor for turgor. Often this means choosing an Anglo-Saxon word over its Latin counterpart. Compare, for example, the effect of "gut" versus "eviscerate."

Which brings us to Tolkien.

J.R.R. Tolkien was a philologist and a professor of Anglo-Saxon and of English language and literature at Oxford. When writing of Middle-Earth, he affected an archaic and heroic style—which is to say, he consistently chose words that came to us from Anglo-Saxon, including many that have fallen from current use. (The way he arranged those words is another thing.)

Which has led me to the rule of thumb that I have taken to calling the "Gandalf test." When writing or editing, if I come to a word that seems unduly portentious, I try to imagine Gandalf saying that word. If I can't, I pull down the thesaurus and look for a word that passes the test, means what I want to mean, and doesn't make me seem too big a freak.

It's not a perfect test, of course, but at least it's mine.