Fighting clutter is like fighting weeds—the writer is always slightly behind. New varieties sprout overnight, and by noon they are part of American speech. Consider what President Nixon's aide, John Dean, accomplished in just one day of testimony on TV during the Watergate hearings. The next day everyone in America was saying "at this point in time" instead of "now."

  Consider all the prepositions that are draped into verbs that don't need any help. We no longer head committees. We head them up. We don't face problems anymore. We face up to them when we can free up a few minutes.

— from "Clutter," by William Zinsser
©1985 by William Zinsser