‘Free gifts’ and ‘haastige spoed’: brevity vs. redundancy

Like yours probably is, my schedule is quite busy. So my intention is not to spend too much time writing this blog. A key element in coming up with copy quickly is being brief. Short sentences. Fast writing. Then again, as we say in Holland, “haastige spoed is zelden goed” (‘more haste, less speed’). But wait. Haven’t we Dutch people heard of pleonasms?

‘Haastig’ means ‘hasty’, ‘spoed’ means ‘haste’. Hasty haste? Essentially, that expression would still say the same without the pleonasm. But would the speakers of Dutch still reckon it to be suitable as a saying? “Spoed is zelden goed.” Well, it rhymes. 

“Remember, brevity means using no more words than necessary, not necessarily fewer words.” That’s a good point Brian Clark makes at Copyblogger. He gives examples like ‘free gifts’ and ‘future plans’. Gifts are always free, plans are always meant to be carried out in the future. But the point is unmistakably clear.

I remember attending a lecture where the professor said “redundancy is the lubricating oil of communication”. Mister Clark states that “redundancy remains a linguistically valid way of increasing the effectiveness of a message.”

On the other hand, we’re living in the era of the short attention span and speedy social media, so we can’t be too wordy anymore. How do you find the necessary balance? 

This is a picture about redundancy.

Further reading
[BITS] | Quality over quantity: how?

Copyblogger | Here's how brevity can crush your copy