Winston Churchill ~ On Writing

There is a story that an American general once asked Churchill to look over the draft of an address he had written.  It was returned with the comment 'Too many passives and too many zeds.'  The general asked him what he meant, and was told:  'Too many Latinate polysyllabics like "systematize", "prioritize" and "finalize".  And then the passives.  What if I had said, instead of "We shall fight on the beaches", "Hostilities will be engaged with our adversary on the coastal perimeter"?'

"Short words are best and the old words when short are best of all."

~ The Wicked Wit of Winston Churchill, Compiled by Dominique Enright, Michael O'Mara Books Ltd., England, 2001.  (Churchill 1874 - 1965)

www.winstonchurchillcanada.ca The annual Winston Churchill dinner will be held on Thursday, May 9, 2013 at the Albany Club of Toronto.  Speaker:  Terry Reardon, author of Winston Churchill and Mackenzie King, So Similar, So Different.