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+Overuse of parentheses, by far.
+
+Why is this a bad thing? Parentheses, as read by most readers, tend to
+contain additional *superfluous* information when read. So naturally,
+the mind tends to pay less attention to what's inside (or at least my
+mind does). I also believe it represents some repressed psychological
+trauma, since a Professor once circled how many times I abused the
+double dash, "--", and I haven't quite felt comfortable using it
+since--unless it feels right.
+
+The punctuation works in that last example, but relying on it leads to
+bad habits, and usually, sentences that droll on for far longer than
+welcome. Consider the following example from Naked Lunch:
+
+```
+Doc Browbeck was party inna second part. A retired abortionist and junk
+pusher (he was a veterinarian actually) recalled to service during the
+manpower shortage. Well, Doc had been in the hospital kitchen all
+morning goosing the nurses and tanking up on coal gas and Klim -- and
+just before the operation he sneaked a double shot of nutmeg to nerve
+himself up.
+
+(In England and especially in Edinburgh the citizens bubble coal gas
+through Klim -- a horrible form of powdered milk tasting like rancid
+chalk -- and pick up on the results. They hock everything to pay the
+gas bill, and when the man comes around to shut it off for the
+non-payment, you can hear their screams for miles. When a citizen is
+sick from needing it he says "I got the klinks" or "That old stove
+climbing up my back."
+
+Nutmeg. I quote from the author's article on narcotic drugs in the
+British Journal of Addiction (see Appendix): "Convicts and sailors
+sometimes have recourse to nutmeg. About a tablespoon is swallowed
+with water. Result vaguely similar to marijuana with side effects of
+headache and nausea. There are a number of narcotics of the nutmeg
+family in use among the Indians of South America. They are usually
+administered by sniffing a dried powder of the plant. The medicine
+men take these noxious substances and go into convulsive states. Their
+twitchings and mutterings are thought to have prophetic significance.")
+```
+
+This is the only example I know that dares to put parentheses within
+parentheses, unless we're counting math textbooks. In a way it works,
+since if information is ever *superfluous*, the history of sailors
+getting high on nutmeg fits that bill. An academic reader might easily
+pick up on that, but to everyone else, I think a full paragraph of text
+in parentheses signals the reader to scroll down in the hopes that the
+story continues.
+
+But just in case you think I'm just picking on William S.
+Burroughs, here's an example I regrettably wrote to a ... recently:
+
+...
+
+It's a habit I can't break. So please, if you are a caring reader, do
+complain when I overuse parentheses. I deserve it.