Brevity
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Brevity
1
is the soul of wit2
-- William Shakespeare4
, Hamlet
5
, Act II, scene ii
1The tie between wit, wisdom and brevity have roots in ancient thought, as seen in Sophocles' Aletes, frag. 99: A short saying oft contains much wisdom. One can, and often does, argue whether Sophocles actually said the word "oft" or the ancient Greek functional equivalent thereof. What wisdom is there in the addition of obscurity and inaccessability to a translation of a statement written in an already unwieldy dead language? Timeless wisdom should not be hindered by obtuse verbiage and arbitrary pedantry.2The complete quote ("Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, and tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief.") is spoken by Polonius, the bombastic and decidedly unwitty advisor to the king, Hamlet's uncle. The irony here lies in the fact that Polonius is incapable of being concise, as shown by his description of his intended brevity. The wit in this statement is derived from his inability to discern his own longwindedness
3.
3Can one footnote a footnote? One shall see, shan't one? It can be argued that the quote, brevity is the soul of wit, is, in its briefest form, decidedly lacking in humor, while when subjected to the context of an interminable and tedious diatribe by a blustering and pretentious bombast is sufficient to draw a knowing chuckle. Is this then an example of wisdom, or simply sarcasm or irony masquerading as wisdom? Should we take the example of brevity in our search for wit, or instead insinuate sarcasm or irony as our ultimate goal independent of the brevity of our witicisms? Such questions must be left to future scholars, as I am desperately in need of a nap. The battle against the depredations of the Passive Voice on scholarly discourse should also be proffered for the consideration of other researchers.
4Frequent speculation exists as to the actual author of the works attributed to William Shakespeare. Among the most rabid... er... enthusiastic proponents of alternate authorship are the disciples of Sir Francis "Beans and Franks" Bacon. These fruitcakes... er... esteemed individuals, rather than letting facts speak for themselves, overuse such adverbs as "obviously" when proposing hypotheses of skeptical provenance, and rant incessantly about the conspiracy of silence surrounding these "significant findings" by scholars of repute. When discussing Rosicrucianism and numerology, any semblance of objective reason is thrown to the winds. Luckily, this bunch has an extremely vocal Internet presence, and finding page upon page of viewpoints requires only the most rudimentary of computer skills. By the way, what happened to footnote number three? Is this another conspiracy by secret organizations to keep citizens of the world docile using confusion and chaos? Probably not. See footnote 2.5One last thought: Bacon... Hamlet... Coincidence? I think not.
3.
3Can one footnote a footnote? One shall see, shan't one? It can be argued that the quote, brevity is the soul of wit, is, in its briefest form, decidedly lacking in humor, while when subjected to the context of an interminable and tedious diatribe by a blustering and pretentious bombast is sufficient to draw a knowing chuckle. Is this then an example of wisdom, or simply sarcasm or irony masquerading as wisdom? Should we take the example of brevity in our search for wit, or instead insinuate sarcasm or irony as our ultimate goal independent of the brevity of our witicisms? Such questions must be left to future scholars, as I am desperately in need of a nap. The battle against the depredations of the Passive Voice on scholarly discourse should also be proffered for the consideration of other researchers.
4Frequent speculation exists as to the actual author of the works attributed to William Shakespeare. Among the most rabid... er... enthusiastic proponents of alternate authorship are the disciples of Sir Francis "Beans and Franks" Bacon. These fruitcakes... er... esteemed individuals, rather than letting facts speak for themselves, overuse such adverbs as "obviously" when proposing hypotheses of skeptical provenance, and rant incessantly about the conspiracy of silence surrounding these "significant findings" by scholars of repute. When discussing Rosicrucianism and numerology, any semblance of objective reason is thrown to the winds. Luckily, this bunch has an extremely vocal Internet presence, and finding page upon page of viewpoints requires only the most rudimentary of computer skills. By the way, what happened to footnote number three? Is this another conspiracy by secret organizations to keep citizens of the world docile using confusion and chaos? Probably not. See footnote 2.5One last thought: Bacon... Hamlet... Coincidence? I think not.
