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I'm the person who like concise, and don't like the literature style stuffing in lots of irrelevant information to distract you from the main idea. So when I saw a book called "No bullshit Java", I know that's exactly the kind of writing style I prefer, both reading and writing.

However, that "No bullshit" is kind of stronger than my tolerance. Is there a better phrase that can convey the idea that I don't like those "bullshit", but not as strong?

Example usage:

I read a very useful blog, but there are so many distraction there that it is very easy to miss a step. So I'm documenting it again in my (no-)____ style.

PS. I know I can use the word "concise", but I do want it to be more vivid than that, but not as colorful as "No bullshit". :-)

J.R.
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xpt
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  • Maybe "no bull"? – noɥʇʎԀʎzɐɹƆ Feb 21 '16 at 18:56
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    "Concise" and "no bullshit" are not opposites. "Concise" means using a small number of words to express an idea; "no bullshit" means that the description is accurate, as well as that it doesn't contain unnecessary things. So, for example, I could write a perfectly concise explanation of how the world is flat, but it would be total bullshit. – David Richerby Feb 21 '16 at 20:55
  • Note sure about your tolerance levels, but bovine waste may or may not be inside. – PlasmaHH Feb 21 '16 at 23:01
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    @Dav Bullshit can be the opposite of concise. Sense 2. Merriam-Webster is discursive. And that's what we'd expect the title of the book mentioned to mean: Doubtfully that other books on Java contain lies/inaccuracies. More likely that they contain fluff while this one provides what's essential. – Jim Reynolds Feb 22 '16 at 00:21
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    @JimReynolds I agree that I should have said that "concise" and "no bullshit" are not necessarily opposites. And I've read plenty of programming books that contain things that were inadvisable or even flat-out wrong, so I'd interpret "no bullshit" to mean both "no fluff" and "no garbage" in this context. – David Richerby Feb 22 '16 at 01:50
  • @Dav Ah, yes. There are multiple senses of bullshit, of course not unrelated. They are all bullsit, after all! – Jim Reynolds Feb 22 '16 at 03:51
  • @JimReynolds That's bullshit! Er, I mean, that's how bullshit is, not that's an example of bullshit. :-) – David Richerby Feb 22 '16 at 04:01
  • In the specific case of programming guides, practical or pragmatic are appropriate, though in other contexts these would not be suitable alternatives. – MooseBoys Feb 22 '16 at 07:12
  • to name a few: crap, excrement, poor quality and so on –  Feb 22 '16 at 07:39
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    "to-the-point" perhaps? – snoram Feb 22 '16 at 11:43
  • plain English, please. – nmtoken Feb 23 '16 at 20:28

10 Answers10

70

Phrases which you might be interested in are

to the point style
no frills style
no nonsense style
no sugar style ( sugar these days has a computer technical meaning of frivolous )
unsweetened style ( a play on sugar )

Concise only means short or compact and could still have sugar

Peter
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    No nonsense is the best (in my opinion) - it has nice alliteration as well. – minseong Feb 21 '16 at 17:11
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    No nonsense is the closest synonym in UK English – Greenonline Feb 22 '16 at 05:57
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    Not heard this "no sugar/unsweetened" phrase before, and not found any reference on google, got any examples? – weston Feb 22 '16 at 06:45
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    In the context of programming, sugar is usually a positive term, e.g. syntactic sugar. I wouldn't say it means frivolous, which is more negative. – MooseBoys Feb 22 '16 at 07:06
  • No nonsense is a great phrase here, as it conveys a "Straight to the point, no being distracted by side-points, professional" image – Jon Story Feb 22 '16 at 14:29
  • Thanks everyone for the response. I'm picking the obvious winner. Indeed most people would agree that No nonsense is the best, with a nice alliteration. I did hope that "no sugar" can spread from the dietary domain, carrying the same meaning as "no frivolous" into the computer world. I will start promoting it. Thanks again! – xpt Feb 22 '16 at 18:50
  • I don't think "no sugar" is used but "no sugar coating" is. Don't think "unsweetened" is used either. – Muhd Feb 22 '16 at 22:08
  • I don't know the exact origin, but my guess is that using sugar as a computer technical adjective may be an expansion of syntactic sugar. Also, most native speakers will know that sugar can be used as an expletive substituting for sh*t. I've only heard "no sugar coating" in regular speech not related to computers. – Peter Feb 22 '16 at 22:26
  • I haven't heard of "no-sugar" before, but I HAVE heard "don't sugar-coat it". No-nonsense is the best substitution for no-bullshit. – Abs Feb 23 '16 at 03:26
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    Once again - sugar in a technical computing sense is nothing to do with frivolousness. – Rob Grant Feb 23 '16 at 12:04
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Two common ways of communicating the same meaning in politer terms could be:

  • No nonsense style...
  • No fuss style ....

You could (at a pinch) say:

  • I'm documenting again without so much bull.

The latter leaves the listener/reader to mentally add the missing expletive.

Brian Tompsett - 汤莱恩
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    "No nonsense" is an excellent suggestion. But I would say that "bull" is essentially the same register as "bullshit", in that the expletive is so strongly implied that omitting it doesn't make the statement any more polite. – David Richerby Feb 21 '16 at 20:58
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    @DavidRicherby Or as Louis CK would say, you're actually making the statement less polite, since you're putting the burden of creating the expletive on the listener. :-) In general though it saddens me that we have a culture where a word describing poop is "bad" (or TBH that "expletives" exist in general). – The111 Feb 21 '16 at 21:52
  • @The If there was no expletive, we would have created one. – Jim Reynolds Feb 22 '16 at 00:13
  • @The111: I think it's great. It would be extremely tedious if every word had equal "weight". If "expletives" weren't "expletives" then I guarantee they wouldn't be used as often — surely the whole point of using the worst ones is that it gives a sort of emotional satisfaction at a time when you need it the most? Otherwise we might as well just drop all the synonyms of things :) – Lightness Races in Orbit Feb 22 '16 at 01:19
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In addition to the very good suggestions from the earlier answers (no nonsense being my favorite), I'd suggest the simple

  • essential
  • direct
  • straight
  • plain
  • compact.

Essential is actually not uncommon in computer literature titles ("Essential Java"), but it goes beyond style; while one would certainly expect no poetry in such a book, it is additionally a statement about the (limited) scope.

I'm not sure whether straight may make some silly highschool students think of sexual orientation: "Straight Java as opposed to what? Queer Java?"

I find plain pretty nice because of the usual context in which it is used (plain talk, plain truth) but it may be too much of an understatement.

J.R.'s comment distilled is also interesting (and O'Reilly's famous "in a Nutshell" series means basically that, even though "in a Shot Glass" would fit "distilled" better).

Compact was inspired by J.R.'s distilled. Short form usually implies "no frills".

Another line of thought focuses on the dishonesty implied when calling something "bullshit". Often a user (let alone buyer) feels betrayed. There are words which focus on that aspect:

  • honest
  • genuine

Yet another aspect of bullshit is the lack in usability, leading to a few other options:

  • high-impact
  • valuable, high-value, value-generating etc.
  • indispensible

These focus more on contents than on style or intent, but in order to be important the amount of irrelevant or wrong information must be pretty limited.

Peter - Reinstate Monica
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  • Beyond being an understatement, "plain" might suggest "basic" but a definite +1 for the other suggestions. – David Richerby Feb 22 '16 at 05:42
  • Your suggestions remind me of another word I've frequently seen in computer science: distilled (although the word distilled is usually positioned AFTER the word it modifies, as in this blog post). – J.R. Feb 23 '16 at 21:24
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There are many synonyms you could use, but I would suggest:

  • no baloney

  • no hot air - this ons is more colourful, and might fit because it means:

Empty talk that is intended to impress

(from ODO, emph. mine).

Since you are trying to convey that there are no unnecessary words that serve no real purpose (i.e. empty talk) I would go for this one.

Aside: you might find this ELU post interesting: What is the source of the phrase “phony baloney”?

Community
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Lucky
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"Forthright" seems to fit in your sample sentence. partial def - adjective 1. (of a person or their manner or speech) direct and outspoken; straightforward and honest.

Old Dad
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1

If you are looking for something that is still informal but not as crude, I would go with

Straight Dope - n. the plain, unvarnished truth

Kevin
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0

First, what does "no bullshit" mean? Honest and direct.

No nonsense seems good, but doesn't really convey the lack of deception.

No bull is a great version, because it can be short for euphemisms like "bulldust".

Depending on whether the phrase needs to fit into the same sentence, "____ Java", then these might work:

  • No kidding
  • No mucking around
  • No joke
  • Straight up
Steve Bennett
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Not a native speaker, but perhaps:

down to the nitty-gritty - reduced to the max, essentials only

CodeManX
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For some reason, the answer with "short and sweet" got deleted. That might not be the "best" option, but it certainly works:

From the FreeDictionary:

Adj. 1. short and sweet - dealt with very quickly; to the point; "the conference was short and sweet"; "make your statement short and sweet"

DCShannon
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Brief, clear writing can be called succinct (OED). It's a particularly good choice here because it's especially applicable to writing. You might even say it's the most... succinct... answer.

talrnu
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