Reflection 3 of 52: How pithy can you be?
January 20, 2014
I am always on the lookout for words that
help get a point across quickly. They come in conversations, appear in books or
online and as quotes in the media. Here is a grab bag of some of my recent
faves.
First up is a quote from a newspaper story about
social justice where a lawyer was explaining why he took on a case when others
would not. He said, “I wear different glasses”.
The succinct line said it all.
Chris Hadfield, the now famous Canadian
astronaut has many quotable quotes but one of my favourites in his book, “An
Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth”. The line is at the end of this paragraph when
he is explaining his first time out of the spaceship:
“Floating in the airlock before my first spacewalk, I knew I was
on the verge of even rarer beauty. To drift outside, fully immersed in the
spectacle of the universe while holding onto a spaceship orbiting Earth at
17, 500 miles per hour – it was a moment I’d been dreaming of and working toward
most of my life. But poised on the edge of the sublime I faced a somewhat
ridiculous dilemma: How to best get out there? The hatch was small and
circular, but with all my tools strapped to my chest and a huge pack of oxygen
tanks and electronics strapped onto my back, I was square.
Square astronaut, round hole.”
The visual that line creates is instant. As
the reader you can see him bumping around trying to get out. I love it when
people take classic sayings and tailor them to become their own.
Then there was the concise post from my
friend who lives in India, “I’m a
criminal” after the Supreme Court ruled that homosexuality was a criminal
offense in that country.
Sad, but huge statement to emphasize the
absurdity of the decision.
And, then there was this tweet from a teacher pal of mine:
Took a test
today. Got an A+. And I didn't even study. Thanks #CdnBloodServices @itsinyoutogive
Excellent way to get the attention of his primary audience.
When Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes was asked in an
interview about a future season he said, “I
don’t know yet if there will be a season six, but it’s not going on forever. It
won’t be Perry Mason”
That quote was picked up thousands of times. A perfect analogy
for those who remember the old TV courtroom drama that lasted nine seasons with
271 episodes.
Not recent, but one of my all time favourites from a close
friend after a meeting with a group of science types, “That was like being in a foreign movie with no subtitles.”
So true, if only they had realized that is how we felt.
As
Mark Twain said, “I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long
one instead.”
Getting
your point across quickly is more important than ever in our world of short
attention spans and 140 character messages. It takes work to do it well.
While
I worry we are becoming trite in our communications, I believe we need to
find ways to connect in the forums that are available. Once we get the attention
of our intended audience there will be opportunities to elaborate. Or, maybe that one liner does the trick.
Any
other favourites out there?
Posts
1 comments
I remind myself of these knowledge nuggets on a regular basis:
ReplyDelete- "It's not the plan that is important, it's the planning."
- "God is in the details." {Not the later idiom "the devil is in the details."}
- "Not all those who wander are lost."
If only to be so pithy, relevant and enlightening as Della... and the authors of the aforementioned quotes.
Great post!