newsy?

Hi,

Could you check this sentence for me?

<At the end of her first year of being alone, she sent her friends a Christmas letter
that was newsy and positive and said, though not in so many words, that she was doing okay.>

I've looked up the dictionary and I've found the meaning of 'newsy'.
It's 'informative'.

But it counteracts with 'not in so many words'.
How can you deliver some 'informative' thing in not so many words???

Is there any other meaning in 'newsy', here?

I don't think so. The letter was informative. She didn't specifically say she was doing okay, but the tone of the letter made it clear that she was doing okay. That's the "not in so many words". "Not in so many words" means "not directly stated in those specific words."

Ddubug, you are dealing with two different ways the English words matter here. The writer intends to write bits and pieces about her life alone. That is called a newsy account. The words she uses are intentional, but they don't convey anything to be concerned about. The writer could well have had several problems such as an accident, ill health or a financial loss. The omission of such accounts would give a reader the impression that there is nothing to be concerned about. Sometimes it is how words are used and not used that will explain the writers intention.

How can you deliver some 'informative' thing in not so many words???

It is possible to be very informative with very few words.

e.g. "He is dead" is very informative and only three words.

The real meaning is (as others have pointed out) we can use language to SAY one thing but to communicate another. This is a regular feature of any language. The phrase "not in so many words" is an idiom to capture that feature of how we communicate.