I think if you tack on that qualification, then the statement becomes vacuous or at least near-so. Considerations in language design are dreadfully non-orthogo

I think if you tack on that qualification, then the statement becomes vacuous or at least near-so. Considerations in language design are dreadfully non-orthogonal to each other. I don't think you could measurably alter a language's succinctness without completely blowing away ceteris paribus.