Monday 5 February 2007

I'm not a rambling man

I discovered a new word today.

A word so new to me I couldn’t even take a guess at what it meant.

Prolix.

It was in an obituary for the spiritual jazz performer Alice Coltrane in this morning’s paper.

The writer, Ben Ratliff, described Coltrane’s music as becoming “wilder and more prolix”.

Not just plain old prolix, but more prolix.

I pushed the paper aside and typed dictionary.com into my browser.

Prolix - Given to speaking or writing at great or tedious length.

As someone who built their writing career on being short, sharp and to the point, I can’t believe I didn’t know that.

All I need to do now is find an opportunity to use my new word.

I've got a couple of client meetings this week, so I suspect I won’t have to wait long.