I'm a Vogon when I'm off.
I'm a Vogon when I'm on.
I'm a Vogon when I scoff.
As such, I make you yawn.
In the days of CompuServe's Issues Forum, maybe the early 90s, I was called a "Vogon."
I said, "Thanks."
I had not read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" at that Time, even though Doug Adams was an active member of CompuServe.
The accusation, intended, I think, as an insult, opened a new world to me. I discovered Doug Adams and that was a treasure.
I laughed at myself and I laughed with him. His absurdity struck a chord of truth in my soul and made me, not less wordy, but more so.
Since then, I have sought to apply this Vogon skill as often as possible when I have had a captive audience.
Then, we have this word of the day from Marriam-Webester: Pleonasm.
'Pleonasm' — Video Word of the Day 4/2/2020
noun - the use of more words than necessary
In the practice of such, I am quite well versed. In its performance, I am well rehearsed.
To read it from the horse's mouth, not that anyone would want anything from that nasty place, let Adams, himself, explain:
Here is what to do if you want to get a lift from a Vogon: forget it. They are one of the most unpleasant races in the Galaxy. Not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous. They wouldn't even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal without orders – signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters. The best way to get a drink out of a Vogon is to stick your finger down his throat, and the best way to irritate him is to feed his grandmother to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. On no account should you allow a Vogon to read poetry at you.
And, concerning the larger implications of pleonasm, back to my own thoughts words, a Vogonistic utterances:
In honor of this word's essential meaning,
And observing its implications to the letter,
I'll be not wordy in hope of gleaning
Reduced pleonasm - all the better.
Thus I shall quit while I am behind.
