“For sale: baby shoes, never used.” So begins and ends the shortest story Ernest Hemingway ever wrote. 6 words – no more, no less. There is much debate about his intent. Some say it was a dare. Others, simply to prove a point. And one view is that he was bemoaning the declining state of the short story.
To me the reason is secondary to the story. Read it again – as a story. Think about it. I find that it opens my imagination like popping the cork on a bottle of champagne. The possibilities; the emotions; the potential; the promise – all unlimited – restricted only by my own imagination and perception.
This is elegance in its truest form.
Which of course got me to think about why it so often takes us so long to say so little? Why we can’t let imagination, perception, and intelligence build on our thinking; add to our ideas; enhance and complement our views and opinions.
So I turned to a source that while often lengthy in form can say more in a sentence or two than most of us can articulate in an hour of PowerPoint:
“Brevity is the soul of wit.”
– William Shakespeare
Wit by the way is defined as: The natural ability to perceive and understand; intelligence.
And with that I end…
Your thoughts?
this is a good example of how Ernie used a lot of words – to wrap the inside story very well.
http://www.olearyweb.com/classes/english10012/readings/twohearted.html
my favorite.
(Imagine what he´d have done with Twitter!)
And then, Craig’s list met Ernest:
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/bab/1016989852.html
Sometimes we get caught up in trying to make sure every single person can understand what is being said. Simplicity turns into complexity and confusion.
BTW – That’s one of the saddest stories I’ve ever read.
Twitter; Craigs list and Im with Lauroe — I have read it as sad…very sad.
We hear it all of the time: Always make room for your reader. Even better, incite them to use their imagination. That’s the brilliant lesson of these six words.
P.S.David, congrats on your upcoming jury charimanship role at Cannes.
Thanks!!! I hope I can apply this thinking!!
In this instance, I believe that brevity is also the soul of selflessness. Often times, I wonder if those who take so long to say so little fear that others will preemptively build upon their idea and take full credit for the results. In this industry of creative thinking and networking, let’s build off each other, shall we?
Or they fear the empty spaces — see last week. to build on your point –
How two words made all the difference…..
This experiment shows that just two words can be the difference between profit and loss for a restaurant
When people made a phone booking, the receptionist restaurant tried to reduce the number of no-shows for bookings by saying –
“Please call if you have to cancel”
But it was not very effective
They often had a much as 30 % of bookings turn out to be no shows.
Then the restaurant tried changing two words when taking the booking
They said
“Would you please call if you have to cancel ?”
All customers felt predisposed to say yes and in so doing made a commitment that they did not want to break
No shows dropped to 10%.
Human truths….
People prefer to be consistent with the commitments that they make.
The more active the commitment the more likely they are to keep it
Usefulness factor….
Increase voter turnout by asking people simply asking them if they intend to vote: people will want to say yes as it is the civic minded thing to do and by just saying yes they are more likely to turn up at the polls
Always ask people if they intend to go to an office meeting, rather than simply inviting them
Making it very easy to respond to a request- for example with the click of a mouse-may be good for response rates but not for ultimate conversion.
Source: Yes! Goldstein, Martin, Cialdini
[...] Design by: Enblogopedia. Theme Made free by Best Hosting. Contributors : SEO | Cheap Web Hosting …6 Words the weekly ramblePosted by A.J. Tylka on 2009-02-03 15:45:04. Or they fear the empty spaces see last week. to build [...]