Think About It. Well Ended. Five hundred words or less of Calibri 11. That’s the plan. I failed recently. People noticed. This business is well ended. But as Karen sang, We’ve Only Just Begun. Briefly, before I begin, let me say this.
Take a quick look at the short list of the many credited with advising minimum words for maximum communication. Churchill, Cato, Twain, Franklin, Voltaire and Clinton. Bill that is. Pascal , a mathematician was mentioned recently in So Little Time, 1 but he may have borrowed from a man better positioned to advise on the wittiest way to write and speak in brief. Actually known more as a nitwit even though serving as official adviser to the king, entering stage left we see LORD POLONIUS.
This business is well ended.
My liege, and madam, to expostulate
What majesty should be, what duty is,
Why day is day, night is night, and time is time.
Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time.
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief. Your noble son is mad.
Mad call I it; for, to define true madness,
What is’t but to be nothing else but mad?
But let that go.
In Hamlet, Even Shakespeare couldn’t do it. For brevity or wit the first line could have been the last. Methinks he doth …..You know. Personally, I think our most beloved philosopher, Kermit probably said, “It’s not easy being brief.” Some suggest the earliest instruction on brevity came from Strunk to White or vise versa. It certainly was not I. Me either. It would have been more brief had I stopped at the beginning. However, in less than 300 words, perhaps you will agree, this business is Well Ended. Think About It.