In this installment of Word Knots and the next, we’ll focus on misused (or in this case, abused) phrases rather than on specific words. 

Our source for this installment is The Dictionary of Disagreeable English by Robert Hartwell Fiske (Chicago: Writer’s Digest Books). This is a great book to browse: I highly recommend it.

From Fiske:

Sans

Idiotic for without.

Here are two examples from Fiske (excerpted):

• And most of that air is getting pulled right through your mouth—sans filtering. USE without. • Walter Cronkite was once named the most trusted man in America because he could be relied on to report the facts fairly and sans bias. USE without.

As Fiske writes:

There is no need at all to use the Gallicism sans instead of without.

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This touches on a sensitive area with many inexperienced (and even some experienced) writers: They don’t recognize (or understand) that high-quality writing is clear, simple, and to the point. Many get caught up in the sadly common practice of trying to inappropriately fancify their text. The all-too-common practice of littering English with words from other languages (in this case French), does nothing to enhance the text. It’s an unnecessary distraction rooted in a writer trying to appear special. My recommendation is to stay far away from this practice, which makes the writer appear at best, pompous, and at worst, insecure about their work.

As always, word choice is critical, and paying attention to what’s actually needed versus what’s superfluous is important.

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