A witticism is a remark that is amusingly clever in perception or expression. Robert Hartwell Fiske coined the term dimwitticism in his book, The Dimwit’s Dictionary, to describe the opposite: dull expressions that provide no insight. This is a great example of observations and judgments on style and usage. His judgements are sometimes harsh, but in his apologetic preface, he makes a point that underlies the motivation for this whole book and particularly this chapter on the ugly side of our language: (more…)