Wikipedia:The problem with elegant variation
Elegant variation is the attempt to relieve repetition by replacing words with synonyms. For example:
- "Three homes were destroyed by a five-alarm fire yesterday. Neighbors reported the blaze about 4 pm. Two firefighters were injured battling the inferno. Officials called the conflagration suspicious."
- "Pope Paul waved from the balcony. As the Supreme Pontiff raised his hand, it became apparent that the Holy Father's glove had a large black stain, causing great embarrassment to the Bishop of Rome."
The English lexicographer H. W. Fowler coined "elegant variation" as an ironic criticism of this strategy.
Elegant variation distracts the reader, removes clarity, and can introduce inadvertent humour or muddled metaphors. It can confuse readers who are unaware, for example, that the Pope is the Bishop of Rome. It fails to fix the real cause of repetitive prose, which is usually repeated information, not repeated words. In other words, it is a case of treating the symptom and not the cause.
By removing elegant variation and using plain English instead, prose becomes clearer and simpler overall.
People (and chimps)
Elegant variation is often used on Wikipedia in reference to individuals – for example, writing "the director" instead of "Spielberg".
Here's a passage from an old version of the article about Bubbles, a pet chimpanzee once owned by Michael Jackson. The elegant variation is bolded:
Bubbles (born April 30, 1983) is a common chimpanzee once kept as a pet by the American singer Michael Jackson, who bought the primate from a Texas research facility in the early 1980s. The animal frequently traveled with the singer, whose attachment to the animal led to media mockery.
This presumably emerges from an attempt to avoid repetition. But the English language already has a solution for repetitive nouns: pronouns (he / him / she / her / they / them / it). When a pronoun isn't clear, just use the original word. In 99% of cases, the result is perfectly natural:
Bubbles (born April 30, 1983) is a common chimpanzee once kept as a pet by the American singer Michael Jackson, who bought him from a Texas research facility in the early 1980s. Bubbles frequently traveled with Jackson, whose attachment to him led to media mockery.
Clarity
Elegant variation can reduce clarity and introduce confusion. For example, it can create the impression that the identity of the person or thing being referenced is unknown. It makes the reader work harder to keep track of who or what is being discussed, sometimes requiring them to reread text — or forcing them to guess.
Consider this excerpt from the article on the film Taxi Driver:
According to Scorsese, it was Brian De Palma who introduced him to Schrader. In Scorsese on Scorsese, the director talks about how much of the film arose from his feeling that movies are like dreams or drug-induced reveries.
Scorsese, De Palma, and Schrader are all directors – so which director does this refer to?
The following example of elegant variation, from the article about the band Pavement, makes the sentence difficult to comprehend:
Nastanovich also later recalled an awkward incident where it became apparent that Godrich did not know the name of the auxiliary percussionist.
Who was the auxiliary percussionist? It was Nastanovich himself – a fact mentioned several thousand words earlier in the article, so good luck if you missed that.
Using elegant variation to add information
Elegant variation is sometimes used to add information. However, this isn't the clearest or most efficient way to provide that information. It forces the reader to "join the dots", and sometimes feels like the writer is trying to smuggle the information into the prose without the reader noticing.
For example, the following passage from the Beatles article tells us that George Harrison was 15 when he met John Lennon:
Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney met Lennon that July, and joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after. In February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison to watch the band. The fifteen-year-old auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing.
This requires the reader to work out who "the fifteen-year-old" refers to — made more difficult here as the preceding sentence says McCartney is also fifteen.
You might argue that this is no great riddle, but it obfuscates information to no advantage. It's simpler and clearer to introduce information in a logical, sequential way:
Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney met Lennon that July, and joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after. In February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison, also fifteen, to watch the band. Harrison auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing.
Former/latter
"The former" and "the latter" are rarely the best solution to repetition. They typically obscure prose more than they clarify, and can force the reader to reread the prose.
Coldplay's third album, X&Y (2005), was influenced by Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode and Johnny Cash. The song "Til Kingdom Come" was written as a collaboration with the latter before he died.
In most cases, just repeating the name is clean and natural:
Coldplay's third album, X&Y (2005), was influenced by Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode and Johnny Cash. The song "Til Kingdom Come" was written as a collaboration with Cash before he died.
Where repeating the name feels repetitive, the cause is usually inefficient syntax. For example:
Sarah and Louise went to a supermarket, where the former bought the latter an ice cream.
Without "the latter" and "the former", the sentence might feel repetitive:
Sarah and Louise went to a supermarket, where Sarah bought Louise an ice cream.
This is an example of how repetition usually emerges from repeated information, not repeated words. As it stands, the sentence structure requires us to state the subjects (Sarah and Louise) twice. We already know who the subjects are, so this is repeated information.
The solution is to restructure the sentence:
At a supermarket, Sarah bought Louise an ice cream.
Title
The word "title" is sometimes used as a synonym for media such as movies, magazines, and particularly video games. For example:
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is the third main title in the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
This seems to have been absorbed from press releases and video game journalism (reliable sources of bad writing). It's an example of the specialized style fallacy – in other words, copying the writing style of specialist sources without considering Wikipedia's general readership.
"Title" removes information and creates ambiguity. For example:
- Sega announced the title Sonic Colors could mean that Sega announced the game or the title of the game.
- Sonic the Hedgehog titles might refer to the Sonic the Hedgehog games, films, comics or some combination of all three.
Why be imprecise? Be clear and direct and write "game", "film", etc instead of "title". Or remove the word entirely where possible: Sega announced Sonic Colors
.
Titular, self-titled, eponymous
Readers can see when a word or phrase is in a title or phrase. We don't need to tell them.
Consider this sentence:
Batman Returns is a 1992 American superhero film directed by Tim Burton, based on the titular DC Comics character.
This likely derives from a fear of repeating the word "Batman". But replacing the second mention with words such as "titular", "eponymous" or "title character" only adds redundancy. It goes without saying that the name Batman is in the title Batman Returns.
"Eponymous" can reduce clarity. Consider various company founders and the stores carrying their names: Benjamin Altman / B. Altman; Maxwell Kohl / Kohl's; Barney Pressman / Barneys; John Nordstrom / Nordstrom; Sam Walton / Sam's Club; Kenneth Wood / Kenwood. The names of these companies can't be predicted from the founders' names.
When used with wikilinks, terms such as "eponymous" make the wikilink destination less clear (see WP:EASTEREGG).
Be clear and direct:
Batman Returns is a 1992 American superhero film directed by Tim Burton, based on the DC Comics character Batman.
And there's no excuse at all for "the Cars and their eponymous debut album, The Cars". Just say "the Cars and their debut album, The Cars".