Creeping towards a simpler life

The following was written by me in 2006, about a year before I started this blog. I post it here for the first time:

It's difficult to write anything today without first checking the internet to see what someone else has written on the subject in question.

I've become a devotee of the philosophy of "less is more," so I did a Google search and found an article which claimed that the phrase "less is more" was first written in 1855 in a poem by Robert Browning.  I read a portion of the poem and couldn't understand it, so I'm going to use my own definition for "less is more."

"Less is more" is essentially the same as K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid).  I have enough education to use five dollar words, but I prefer the simpler ones.  Although the phrase "less is more" is catchy, what I really mean is "fewer is better."  A case in point.  There is a sign in front of a vacant lot near where I live and it reads: "NO PARKING ALLOWED."  Every time I pass that sign, I wonder what the word "allowed" adds to the parking prohibition.  In other words, isn't "NO PARKING" the same as "NO PARKING ALLOWED"?  Of course it is.

One place when the "less is more" concept should be abandoned is the sign at the express checkout lane in the supermarket.  When I see "12 items or less," I cringe.  It's "12 items or fewer."  Think of it this way: less time but fewer minutes.  If there is a number involved, it usually should be "fewer" not "less."  "But," you say, "fewer has more letters than less."  That's true, but I couldn't care fewer.

At breakfast the other day, I noticed a bottle of Heinz ketchup.  In big bold letters, the label proclaimed "TOMATO KETCHUP."  I immediately thought the word "tomato" was superfluous (see, I told you I knew some five dollar words).  I'm a child of the Fifties and never did I taste ketchup that wasn't made from tomatoes.  However,if figured I'd better check the internet for a definition of the word "ketchup."  Lo and behold, it turns out that when ketchup was first introduced, it was a "sauce made from fish brine and spices" but no tomatoes. However, in America, at least since the early 1900s, ketchup has been tomato based.  So, just as some words change meanings over the years, I'm calling for the elimination of the word "tomato" on the front of the Heinz Tomato Ketchup bottle.  Ketchup is ketchup.  That condiment we slather on hamburgers, french fries and everything else.  In my simpler world, ketchup isn't a sauce made from fish brine, no matter what the dictionary says.