Word-limits suck!

The sun being high in the sky, we went off to catch grasshoppers in the short scrubby grass near the university. Having marvelled over their speed and agility we released them and walked home before the sun started to burn us. Still no word from the Prof. I am loathe to start pruning my thesis to get it within the word count until I get the go-ahead from him. But, in truth, I don't want to trim it back at all! It does what it says on the tin 'A textual commentary on the variants contained within the NA27 apparatus criticus': if I hack bits out it won't BE that anymore and I'll feel I've compromised my dissertation to conform to some arbitrary word-limit! None of it is padding: it's solid, logical, point A to point B reasoning. Nothing is superfluous. Everything is covered in a terse scholarly style. So I'm fretting and watching the dealine for hand-in getting closer and closer....