Secondo piano

Sotto il titolo “Top 10 Tips for Great Writing” il sito thelistuniverse scrive qualche serena banalità. Poi, però, ci s’imbatte in questo diktat:

Kill the Romance

This may be a controversial point, but I strongly believe (as do many people) that, whenever possible, you should avoid the use of words that have come from the Romance languages (languages that have their roots in Latin – Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian). Our language grew over the years by taking bits and pieces from other languages – some Romance, and some Germanic; in fact, most Romance words have a Germanic counterpart. Germanic words tend to feel stronger and give more weight to your writing.

Here is an example: The British attempted to destroy the Colonial uprising in America. (Attempt, and destroy both have romance origins.)

A better sentence would be: The British fought to crush the Colonial uprising in America. (Fought, and crush are both germanic in origin.)

The second sentence is much stronger than the first. Sometimes it can be difficult to find a Germanic equivalent, but you can normally do so with a good thesaurus in hand.

Per fortuna che l’estensore si para il cu le spalle, affermando: This may be a controversial point. Trovo quantomeno stupida questa indicazione. Le due frasi citate hanno ovviamente una forza diversa perché usano parole diverse. E poi, scusate, ma che le lingue romanze allunghino sul testo un’ombra di leggerezza e di debolezza mi pare anche vagamente razzista.