This section has been titled Circumlocution since the first edition, for no reason other than it is a pleasing word, but is now a separate chapter. Edith Schwager’s similar section (see reference books) is titled Tautology, ‘rather than Redundancy, because any –ology sounds much more learned. However, we could have used Superfluity, Verbosity, Verbiage, Periphrasis, or Prolixity.’

Many circumlocutions in medical writing accompany or are the result of using the words and phrases listed earlier in this book, for example, may have the potential to meaning could. But there are many circumlocutions that will not be found by computer searches. They may be spotted by friends and colleagues if you ask them to read your draft, but you must ask them – sincerely – to be critical, and you must not then take offence if they are. Otherwise, the only way to spot circumlocutions is to go through your text carefully, asking yourself whether this word or that phrase is really necessary. (Is ‘really’ necessary?) After a while, you will become sensitive to unnecessary verbiage, and trimming will bring great satisfaction. Expressing a message more succinctly is useful not just for good style, but also when there is a word limit – for instance when submitting abstracts. Shorter papers will endear you to editors. The current on-line advice from the journal Diabetologia advises that if your paper is not 25% shorter after the eradication process, which should include ‘any phrase you think particularly clever’, you go back and start again.