The elegant variation

The term "elegant variation" was coined by H. W. Fowler, describing a particularly erroneous journalistic rule – namely, that no word should be used twice in one written piece, or repeated inside some limit like three paragraphs. English teachers propagate this myth; second-rate newspaper hacks obey religiously. Thus, editorial articles, having once mentioned bananas, subsequently reference "bendy yellow fruit", while public figures accumulate curious nicknames — "troubled superstar", "erstwhile ginger prime minister".

Ostensibly, these literary gymnastics prevent readers getting bored from perusing identical expressions successively. However, its real effect instead obfuscates communication, demanding ever obscurer, less precise synonyms because authors exhaust their mental thesauri searching for new alternate lexical strings. Difficulty with composing also increases exponentially. Such arbitrary regulations predictably reduce linguistic freedom, producing unstomachably crippled prose, which sceptical scribes will find becomes easily apparent upon any prolonged attempt to maintain strict avoidance of repetition.