Smile for Today:

William Allen White, the editor of the Emporia Gazette, Kansas, described his war against his staff's over-use of the word 'very' this way:

If you feel you must write 'very', write 'damn'. So, when the urge for emphasis is on him the reporter writes, 'It was a damn fine victory. I am damn tired but damn well ~ and damn excited.' Then because it is the Emporia Gazette, the sub-editor deletes the profanity and the quotation reads. 'It was a fine victory. I am tired but well ~ and excited.' That's how the Gazette attains its restrained, simple and forceful style.

Restrained, simple and forceful.

Writer's Guide and Index to English
Joan Harkness, Wise and Witty Observations of a Word Watcher, Andre Deutsch Ltd. 1998.