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"Why use many word, when few word do trick." ~Kevin Malone, The Office. I agree with you.The point of language is to get an idea from my head into your head wi
by daveslash 4y ago
"Why use many word, when few word do trick." ~Kevin Malone, The Office.
I agree with you.The point of language is to get an idea from my head into your head with as little loss-of-signal as possible. That is much more challenging than it might sound. Note: an idea might be an emotion.
If I were to write that as simply as possible, I might say: "Yes. Talk is communication. That is hard", or even more simply "Talk hard!!!"
Too much simplification is reductionist, and something is lost. Excessive verboseness is too high a noise-to-signal ratio, and something is lost. There is a balance to be had, and that balance is a moving target, depending on the complexity and importance of the idea and your audience. If I'm trying to convey deep-technical knowledge to a fellow engineer, then I'll be precise and "jargony" - it won't be "simple"; if I'm trying to show that I'm having a good time to my inlaws with whom I don't share a common verbal language, then a beaming smile may be all that's needed.
- dang 4y agoThat joke spoils itself by adding "trick". But if it didn't, then it wouldn't work, since "Why use many words when few will do" is perfectly grammatical.
- daveslash 4y agoDang
- daveslash 4y agoThe joke was that I was acknowledging the point "that the joke spoils itself by adding "trick"", was acknowledging the point with a single word, and that single word was simply the username of the user who pointed out that the joke ruins itself - thus, reusing a word already in the thread instead of introducing a new word. Guess I took the "why use many word when few word do" too far!
- bryanrasmussen 4y agowhy use many word, few do?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- zimpenfish 4y agoI suppose if you were golfing it, "many word? few!" would be the endpoint.
- superhuzza 4y agoThat would be inherently less funny - the whole joke is that Kevin isn't really saving any time by speaking in a confusing way, it's just dumb. If anything, your point makes the joke funnier - he's managed to make the sentence longer than has to be, in addition to grammatically incorrect, to express the same idea.
- dang 4y agoYes I'm sure I missed the subtleties of the scene. Sorry!
- borroka 4y agoLet's make a simple, boring clothing analogy: "Why use a broken suit with an elegant combination of fabrics and colors when a simple, ill-fitting T-shirt and a pair of chinos would allow you to cover your body?" Let's make yet another analogy with the body: "Why spend time in the gym working with barbells and dumbbells to achieve a shape and tone that would make you look like a Bronze of Riace instead of doing "just" 10k steps a day?" Perhaps a dress can be too flowery or stiff; appropriate for a wedding, inappropriate for a day in the woods. A body may be too muscular for a marathon, not enough for a bodybuilding competition. It is a matter of taste, of situation. Terse writing may fit here and not there; flowery writing may work here and not there. Prescription always depend on the context and the goals.