Imagine you’re a freshman in high school. Your teacher has assigned a 500-word essay, but you have approximately 20 words of wisdom to share. You’ve already used two-inch margins and triple-spaced the whole mess, but you need more words…so you resort to that old standby: verbal gobbledygook.

It starts out like this:

One of the points that I am trying to make here is…
I strongly believe that it is important to realize that…
Then, to keep the momentum going, you throw in a few choice phrases:
The reason why is because…
At this point in time…
In terms of…
Due to the fact that…
Generally speaking…
It is my opinion that…

And finally, to appear sophisticated, you use big words when other, simpler words would suffice:

On account of. What’s wrong with because?
Irregardless. Yikes. This word needs to be eliminated altogether.
Utilized. Again, what’s wrong with use?
Basically. There are very few occasions where this word is necessary.

In the end you have your 500 words, but a good English teacher will strip your piece right back down to the original 20 words anyway. You’ve wasted your time and, more importantly, your teacher’s time.

Don’t let this bad habit affect your writing today. Whether you’re writing a business letter or a novel, keep in mind that people today are multitaskers. They’re impatient and anxious to get right to the point. When you use clear, concise language, you get your message across in a way that appeals to these busy folks. There’s nothing wrong with using an interesting new word here and there, but don’t write with the thesaurus open beside you, searching for fancy ways to say simple things in every sentence. New writers often make this mistake, operating under the assumption that sprinkling multisyllabic words throughout their text will be impressive. Stick to writing more naturally, and avoid alienating your readers.

Whatever you write take the time to go through and weed out unnecessary words and phrases. “She wondered about the fact that he wasn’t there” can easily be changed to “She wondered why he wasn’t there.” In the examples above note the prevalence of the word “that”—something to watch out for when you’re looking to trim fat. In fact, there’s a good simile: writing is like a great steak. If the customers have to spend several minutes cutting off gobs of fat to get to the good stuff, they will probably get irritated and won’t return to your restaurant.

H.W. Fowler said it best in The King’s English:

Prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched.
Prefer the concrete word to the abstract.
Prefer the single word to the circumlocution.
Prefer the short word to the long.

Some idioms and expressions have unusual histories. Idioms are often archaic, and the literal meaning sometimes has little to do with the meaning of the phrase as it is used today. It's fun to learn about origins of common phrases. Below are a few idioms and their unlikely beginnings.

Getting sacked (to be dismissed from a job)
“Getting sacked” likely comes from tradesmen who carried their tools in a bag or sack. When they were released from a job, they may have been told to “get the sack.” Other variations of this phrase include “get the bag” and “get the empty.”

Raining cats and dogs (to rain extremely hard)
In 1651 Henry Vaughn used the phrase “Dogs and Cats rain’d in the showre.” In 1652 Richard Brome used the phrase “It shall raine… Dogs and Polecates.” Most likely this phrase derives from the notion that cats and dogs are noisy, just like a hard rainstorm.

Spill the beans (to reveal a secret)
Ancient Greece is often cited as the origin of this phrase; however, the words were first printed in The Stevens Point Journal in 1908. Most likely, “spill the beans” derives from a 13th century phrase, “spill blood,” meaning “to let out.”

Know the ropes (to understand how to do something)
This phrase most likely has a seafaring origin. The first time the phrase was printed was in 1840 in Richard Dana Jr.’s Two Years Before The Mast. Another possible origin comes from theater terminology. In 1850 J. Timon used the phrase “learned the ropes” in the Opera Goer. In both cases an experienced sailor or set manager would have to literally “know the ropes.”

Cut to the chase (to get to the point)
We can thank Hollywood for this phrase. After filming a dramatic scene, the director would call for the action (or chase) scene. This phrase was first recorded in the 1927 novel Hollywood Girl, by J.P. McEvoy.

Pipe dream (an unrealistic desire)
This phrase originated in American slang during the 1890s. Smoking opium was known to cause hallucinations and fantasies (dreams).

Pie in the sky (the promise of better things to come)
This phrase was coined by Joe Hill in 1911. As a leading member of the radical labor party, The Industrial Workers of the World, Hill wrote songs to promote the group’s political position. The phrase first appeared in the song “The Preacher and the Slave,” which mocked the Salvation Army hymn “In the Sweet Bye and Bye.”

Put a sock in it (to quiet down)
This British phrase was first recorded in 1919 in The Athenaeum. It may have had to do with the practice of softening the volume of a gramophone by using a sock.

To learn more about language and its modern uses, see Web Slang, The Purist Debate, and Sniglet.