英語の専門家による短い単語の薦め

A Way with Words*1というラジオ番組の10月28日放送分で、いくつかの内容の1つとして、短い単語の利用を薦めていた。その回は以下で聞くことができる。

その薦めはSPELL (Society for the Preservation of English Language and Literature) members' handbookからの引用で、以下のものであった。開始から34分45秒の部分である。文章で読むよりは聞いた方がインパクトがあるので、できれば聞いてもらいたい。

You don't have to use long words when you write. Most of the time you can make your point quite well with the short ones. In fact, big words may get in the way you want to say. And what's more, when you write with short words, no one will need to look them up to learn what they mean. Short words can make us feel good. They can run and jump and dance and soar high in the clouds. They can kill the chill of the cold night and help us keep cool on a hot day. They fill our hearts with joy. But they can bring tears to our eyes too. A short word can be soft or strong. It can sting like a bee or sing like a lark. Small words of love can move us, charm us, lull us to sleep. Small words give us sleight and hope and peace and love and health and a lot more good things. So when you write, choose the short word if you can find one that will let you say what you want to say.
If there is no short one that fills the bill, then go ahead and consider the utilization of a sesquipedalian bloviating expression as a viable alternative. But be cognisant of the actuality that it could conceivably be incumbent upon many of your perusers to expend by consorting a dictionary or perhaps an alternative lexicon of particularized patois. Copious quantities of their invaluable time and attempting to determine the message you are endeavoring to impart to them through instrumentality of your missive.
So another word, never use a big word when a diminutive word will do.

*1:「have a way with 〜」で「〜に熟達している」という意味