Engineering "Deceptively Simple" Writing

An Essay on Discerning Meaning
Albert Ervine

May I provide an analogy that could illustrate "deceptively simple."

Most people, when they hear a machine described as "sophisticated," think of something mind-bogglingly complex -- sort of like one of Rube Goldberg's contraptions, but with bells, whistles and flashing lights instead of the midget. The picture is false. A truly sophisticated machine is one that could not be simplified in any way and still do everything it is supposed to. A sophisticated machine inspires the viewer to say, "What's so special about that? Anyone could do it." Anyone could not. It took months of ruthless pruning to get it to its present condition.

In my previous existence -- 1950-1985 -- I was a machine design engineer. When I was just starting, I received a sterling piece of advice from a contract draftsman who worked for us. "If it doesn't work, don't see what you can put on to make it work. See what you can take off." As he explained it, the piece you eliminate costs nothing to make, never malfunctions, never breaks, and never wears out. When you have eliminated everything you can, you should have a pretty good piece of equipment. Then make sure that each piece can be made with the least machining possible.

One result of this refining is that nearly every machine I designed is still running and doing its job, some of them fifty years after they first went into production.

Deceptively simple writing is the same. If one word will do the job -- both in meaning and atmosphere -- then two words are excessive. Victorian writing tended to wordiness; the writers were being paid by the word, so the more diffuse the writing, the better the pay. Still, there were memorable exceptions. Can anyone improve on Dickens' description of Mrs. Fezziwig as "one vast, substantial smile?" I read that before 1939, and it stuck. Deceptively simple writing does. Verbosity doesn't.

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As Mark Twain wrote, "The difference between the right word and the almost right word, is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug."