Language Log: No smooth ride is as valuable as a rough ride

An argument: White and Strunk {notoriously} say that one should write with verbs and nouns rather than with adjectives and adverbs. The linguists at Language Log {adeptly} show that White himself uses {considerably} more adjectives than the average for English prose. White is a therefore a {shameless, contemptible} hypocrite.

It's countered that White is {prudently} offering {sensible} rules for inexperienced writers, and that an experienced writer knows how and when to "break the rules." The {vexing} problem of {unforgiveable} hypocrisy does not {automatically} go away, though, since the {obnoxious} so-called "rule" of avoiding {supposedly unnecessary} adjectives is {stupidly} evoked as a sort of {brain-dead} linguistic fundamentalism. And the {seemingly attractive} idea of depriving {callow,} inexperienced writers of several {wonderfully supple and expressive} categories of words until he or she is {adequately} prepared for them seems {inescapably} paternalistic.