Comment by Kerrick
7 hours ago
Other translations keep Zinsser's preferred lack of fuzz but avoid using "is ... to" for possession.
For example, the Lexham English Bible:
> I looked again and saw under the sun that the race does not belong to the swift, the battle does not belong to the mighty, food does not belong to the wise, wealth does not belong to the intelligent, and success does not belong to the skillful, for time and chance befalls all of them.
Easiest! Loses some color, gains much clarity.
Color. Perfect word; thank you. That's what LLM writing doesn't have, and the second version didn't have it either.
This could be shortened to "success does not belong to the skillful, for time and chance befalls all" with no meaning lost. It's self-indulgent fluff. Meanwhile, Orwell's actually adds more to the statement - much better signal to noise.
Writing is fluff. What do you want, a list of bullet points? There would be no books. Maybe you have a career in writing 2 page books?