“Some people talk too much without saying a lot.”
―
V for verbosity:
Dictionary says verbosity is the use of unnecessary words in conversation, speech, debates, etc. Another word ‘tautology’ is a literary device with the same meaning. Verbosity is also called clutter, which in any form is hardly appreciated.
On a lighter note, I can say verbosity is an art that specializes in confounding what really matters. Interestingly some individuals are adept at taking recourse to superficial long-winded interventions to scuttle the real issues being discussed and confuse the listeners.
Luckily the discerning listeners gauge just at the beginning the frivolousness of the arguments and refuse to suffer the blah blah. They lock up their cognition and go to sleep with open eyes signifying a subtle way of showing their disapproval of mere rhetoric. Who likes the ones who exhibit their grandiloquence in everyday situations?
In a small group sometimes, a particular person compulsively indulges in a type of wordy monologue to the discomfiture of all. He goes on babbling in so many words the same thing. He loves his own voice so much that nobody else gets a chance to participate in the discussion. Others try to ignore in the first instance. However, if the speaker doesn’t take a hint, they start looking at their watches, fiddle with their smartphones, or simply yawn. Even then, the garrulous fails to end his dull ramblings.
I think each one of us sometimes or the other by mistake or willingly must have watched political debates on TV channels. Such channels are a little too many in my country. Dear hubby calls them ‘unwholesome nonvegetarian stuff.’ Spokespersons of various political parties throw verbal venom at each other so much so that the viewer senses unhealthy vibes polluting the atmosphere around. In fact, their verbiage makes hardly any sense as it diverges from the specified topic and takes recourse to disgusting wordplay to score points.
For me, such shows are a BIG NO.
In fictional writings, some novelists give so much space to descriptive passages that the reader who is always curious to know ‘what happened next’ often skips those lengthy pages. The repetitive style truly bores.
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet one of the characters Polonius remarks,
“Brevity is the soul of wit,
And tedious the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief…..” endorses the logic of preferring conciseness to pompous style.
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