There is a saying, “If you drive your reader to the dictionary, the reader will also drive you out.”
Many teachers, writers and editors have misunderstood this maxim, being oblivious of the fact that all good writers choose strong words to give a maximum effect to each sentence to create moods and images.
Thus, the adage does not mean that everything flat and simple is good for the reader. It certainly signifies that the sentence construction should be simple, but words may be chosen to limn a particular situation. Yet, one should not always use strong words or uncommon expressions.
Each sentence should be simple but punchy, clear but thought provoking, elegant but not fustian.
The number of people reading English newspapers in India is not very high. According to a survey, nearly 15 million read The Times of India and, approximately, six million opt for The Hindu. Thus, not even two percent of the population in the country read English newspapers.
Since not every Tom, Dick and Harry reads the English newspapers, there is no harm in using a few nuances of the language. Else, each sentence will be so rhetoric that the reader will drive out the writer.
If one uses the word “arrest” thrice in a news story, the reader may think newspaper writers are down with paucity of thoughts. To avoid this situation, one may use “collar.”
Let us see how the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (SOED) defines “collar.” It says: “Collar means to seize or take hold of someone by the collar, capture, arrest, stop, and detain.”
In rugby, it means lay hold of and to stop an opponent holding the ball.
The word is also used as a slang which means to grab, take and appropriate, especially illicitly, SOED says.
Author F. Marryat writes: He was collared by two French soldiers, and dragged back into the battery.
“Bust” can also be used in place of “arrest.” But seeing “bust” for “arrest” many people may raise their eyebrows and give a lecture to the person concerned who has used it.
Nevertheless, “bust,” SOED defines, also means to dismiss, demote, to catch in possession of drugs and to jail. In this sense, the word is used in passive voice.
What does “arrest” mean? It has originated from the French word, “arreter” which means to stop, stay, remain and rest. In this sense, the word is used as an intransitive “verb.”
Well-known British poet John Donne wrote: We must arrest awhile upon the nature, and degree, and effects of charity.
When it is used as a transitive verb, it means to stop, detain and retard, says SOED.
US diplomat and winner of Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, H Kissinger, wrote: The Soviet advances were first arrested and then reversed.
“Arrest” used transitively means to “apprehend.” And author D Lodge cleared it when he wrote: Sixteen people were arrested for stealing used bricks from the demolition site.
DH Lawrence has gone further when he wrote “The Unholy Inquisition has arrested all my pictures.”
Thus, someone seeing the word “collar” or “bust” used in place of “arrest” should not raise their eyebrows, if it is used correctly. Rather than discouraging those who are using these words correctly, the people, giving lectures on the English language, should encourage them to employ it to do away with two enemies of human happiness – pain and boredom.
“Arrest,” used more than twice in a sentence, only causes ennui to the reader who may drive you out, since the number of people reading English newspapers in India is less than two percent. Similarly, a student using these words correctly should get appreciation from their teachers.
Author Lewis Carrol wrote: “When I use a word, “Humpty dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.” Everyone must keep that in mind.
