August1991 Posted July 21, 2015 Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 (edited) Copied from the Internet: There’s a legend that Hemingway was challenged to compose a story in ten words or less. Hemingway collected the bets, whipped out a napkin, and scrawled these six words: For sale: baby shoes, never used. Hemingway, born in 1899, was famous for brevity. Well. Twitter is also known for restricting content to, I think, 140 characters. Hemingway, some 100 years ago, did Twitter better. Trudeau (père) wrote somewhere (before 1963, while admittedly also using words such as "cybernetics") that the "future will be more rational". ====== If I have any conclusion from these three points, in the realm of arts, culture, political success or life in general: it's the following: "Don't waste other people's time: the most valuable resource they own." Edited July 21, 2015 by August1991 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Guy Posted July 21, 2015 Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 I believe that some individuals choose to waste other peoples time rather than their own time. As attributed to Woodrow Wilson - "If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half and hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now." I suggest that this could also apply to posting. By the appearance of some posts, some posters just type into their keyboard and hope that their fingers can keep up to their thoughts. Some do take the time to consider a response, how to compose it and check it before hitting the enter key. We have an unwritten rule for us old folks who meet at the local Legion for a cold milk and providing solutions for the world problems: It is called the three minute and two bullshit rule. This means that any one individual has only 3 minutes of continual talking to make his point or counter point. Then he is cut off. Also, if at any time during a prolonged dissertation any other two individuals at the table yell "bullshit" then you are also cut off. That encourages participants to think a little before taking the floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted July 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 (edited) We have an unwritten rule for us old folks who meet at the local Legion for a cold milk and providing solutions for the world problems: It is called the three minute and two bullshit rule.... I believe that some individuals choose to waste other peoples time rather than their own time. As attributed to Woodrow Wilson - "If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half and hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now.".... I suspect that, unlike Woodrow Wilson, Trudeau Jnr or Tom Mulcair, Stephen Harper (Heave Steve) understands this idea very well. Trudeau (father) certainly did. Edited July 21, 2015 by August1991 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 21, 2015 Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 I believe that some individuals choose to waste other peoples time rather than their own time. As attributed to Woodrow Wilson - "If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half and hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now." I suggest that this could also apply to posting. By the appearance of some posts, some posters just type into their keyboard and hope that their fingers can keep up to their thoughts. Some do take the time to consider a response, how to compose it and check it before hitting the enter key. We have an unwritten rule for us old folks who meet at the local Legion for a cold milk and providing solutions for the world problems: It is called the three minute and two bullshit rule. This means that any one individual has only 3 minutes of continual talking to make his point or counter point. Then he is cut off. Also, if at any time during a prolonged dissertation any other two individuals at the table yell "bullshit" then you are also cut off. That encourages participants to think a little before taking the floor. We used to have a rule that you couldn't begin a sentence with "When I was in..." That sure cut down on the bs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted July 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 (edited) I believe that some individuals choose to waste other peoples time rather than their own time.Duh. When did you realize this "belief"? I suggest that this could also apply to posting.[sarcasm]Good point![/sarcasm] We used to have a rule that you couldn't begin a sentence with "When I was in..." That sure cut down on the bs.When I worked at Pharmaprix, years ago, I first realised that I might be surrounded by idiots, only to discover later that some were smarter than me... It is one reason that today I am a conservative; but bcsapper, it's not really the point of the OP. Edited July 23, 2015 by August1991 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbg Posted July 25, 2015 Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 Copied from the Internet: There’s a legend that Hemingway was challenged to compose a story in ten words or less. Hemingway collected the bets, whipped out a napkin, and scrawled these six words: For sale: baby shoes, never used. Hemingway, born in 1899, was famous for brevity. Well. Twitter is also known for restricting content to, I think, 140 characters. Hemingway, some 100 years ago, did Twitter better. Trudeau (père) wrote somewhere (before 1963, while admittedly also using words such as "cybernetics") that the "future will be more rational". ====== If I have any conclusion from these three points, in the realm of arts, culture, political success or life in general: it's the following: "Don't waste other people's time: the most valuable resource they own." Thanks for a great post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted July 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 (edited) Thanks for a great post.Great post? Why? ===== In fact, my OP was a defence of Harper's political style: Harper (like Mackenzie King) only talks to us when he has something important to say. Edited July 28, 2015 by August1991 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Guy Posted July 29, 2015 Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 "For sale, baby shoes, never used." is an example of exceptional writing. The statement implies various scenarios based on the words used and their interaction. Anyone reading this statement would be enticed to read on to find out why this situation occurred. I agree with jbg thanking you for sharing that phrase. I have learned from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted August 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2015 (edited) "For sale, baby shoes, never used." is an example of exceptional writing.I disagree, sort of. Tolstoi and Hugo were exceptional writers, yet they wrote pages and pages. Politics is different from literature; and modern literature is different from the 19th century. Trudeau Snr and Hemingway were right: most people nowadays have valuable time and so writers, politicians should be brief and get to the point. Edited August 11, 2015 by August1991 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted August 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 Thinking more about this: Good politics is brief and gets to the point when people must decide. Good art takes time while people appreciate and understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercoma Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 Good politics is not brief. Good politics takes time for people to appreciate and understand as well. Populist politics is brief and gets to the point with poor sophomoric solutions to complex problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimmy Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 I recall the phrase "Brevity is the soul of wit" was spoken by Polonius in Hamlet, just before he blathered on at length to prove he was neither brief nor witty. Conversely, though I haven't read the book myself, I've heard that Bret Easton Ellis went wrote at length about trivial detail of Patrick Bateman's high-end consumer goods in "American Psycho", to make a point about the empty, soulless existence of its (uhhh...) protagonist (?) ...we see this reflected in the movie, as he monologues at length ascribing genius and purpose to the rather vacuous lyrics of Huey Lewis. He's searching for meaning where there isn't any; he's filled his apartment with shiny objects to provide some sense of purpose and accomplishment in his meaningless life. "For sale: baby shoes, never used." That works because it engages the reader's imagination to fill in the details. But it doesn't make any statement about the human experience... it invites the reader to make their own statement. This might be an effective way for an author to stimulate a reader, but it's not effective at actually expressing an idea or a theme you want to explore. Inviting the reader to fill in their own mental picture of the contents of Patrick Bateman's apartment doesn't express the idea that Easton-Ellis wants to convey. Brevity in politics? The most successful political slogan in recent history? "Hope and Change." Like "For sale: baby shoes, never used", "Hope and Change" invites people to fill in the blanks. What kind of change? What are you hoping to see? People took it to mean everything from economic opportunity to ending racial inequality to Wall Street reform to affordable education to marijuana law reform. When people looked at the actual policies they weren't actually all that great, but if you ignore the specifics then Hope And Change was whatever you wanted it to be. Ever watch a horror movie, and find yourself quite scared anticipating the monster, ...and then when they actually do the big reveal, it's ... kinda lame? Way less impressive than you imagined it? Like the horror movie monster, once you got to the big reveal, "hope and change" was way less impressive than than you imagined it was going to be. We live in an age where people watch 30-second segments on the news, and meet the politicians in 10-second soundbites, and the politicians stand on a stage festooned with posters saying what they're talking about because otherwise viewers won't know from the 10 second soundbites. Brevity is a matter of necessity because of the way people receive their information. The politician might well have some more detailed policy to address the issue, but for the sake of the people watching their 30-second segment, he also has to get that message condensed into a 10-second soundbite. -k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercoma Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 I recall the phrase "Brevity is the soul of wit" -k I literally laughed out loud that this was the opening phrase in a post that fills my entire screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimmy Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 oh STFU. -k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercoma Posted August 17, 2015 Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 Hey, I thought it was comedy genius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimmy Posted August 17, 2015 Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 I am always as brief as possible. When you're reading your daily Kimmy you can always be assured that you're seeing ideas expressed as concisely as you'd expect from a writer of my calibre. A page of text from me is as thought-provoking and engaging as a whole thesis from lesser writers! -k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drummindiver Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 I am always as brief as possible. When you're reading your daily Kimmy you can always be assured that you're seeing ideas expressed as concisely as you'd expect from a writer of my calibre. A page of text from me is as thought-provoking and engaging as a whole thesis from lesser writers! -k With all your attributes, humble as well. I used to love Hemingway, but too many of his books focused on killing animals for sport, which really turned me off Would your avatar like to get a cup of coffee sometime? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted August 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 (edited) I am always as brief as possible. When you're reading your daily Kimmy you can always be assured that you're seeing ideas expressed as concisely as you'd expect from a writer of my calibre. A page of text from me is as thought-provoking and engaging as a whole thesis from lesser writers! -k Uh. Not. Kimmy, you can be verbose. Yet many (eg. me) will read you. Harper does not have such luxury. Edited August 19, 2015 by August1991 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hardner Posted August 19, 2015 Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 With all your attributes, humble as well. I used to love Hemingway, but too many of his books focused on killing animals for sport, which really turned me off So I guess murder mysteries aren't your thing then ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted March 12, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2017 (edited) It seems that Justin Trudeau does not understand his own father's advice; or maybe his writers/advisors don't know. Soon, at best, some female voters will see him as another Vero or Oprah. Unless he changes, everyone else in Canada will soon see him as another Justin Bieber. Edited March 12, 2017 by August1991 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted September 21, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2017 Bump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted October 21, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2017 Bump again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hardner Posted October 21, 2017 Report Share Posted October 21, 2017 On 8/13/2015 at 10:37 AM, cybercoma said: Good politics is not brief. Good politics takes time for people to appreciate and understand as well. Populist politics is brief and gets to the point with poor sophomoric solutions to complex problems. Politics like food, is varied as part of your diet. You are what you eat. A good diet has a bit of this, and a bit of that. Too much populism is like too much junk food: the need for immediate payoff makes one obese and mentally ill. This is where we are now. But you can't cut it off, you just have to find a way to channel the populism to something positive and effective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.