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Stultus Maximus posted:The Nib: An ongoing proof by contradiction of the maxim "brevity is the soul of wit." The origin of that quote was a fictional longwinded blowhard. It was a sentiment Shakespeare was mocking.
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Jan 3, 2023 07:27
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Vincent Van Goatse posted:The actual joke was that Polonius was a twit who didn't follow his own advice. The maxim is still valid. If brevity was the soul of wit then things without brevity wouldn't have wit, which is observably untrue. The "maxim" has remained relevant because of its similarity to an actual true thing, which is that the essence of comedy is timing.
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Jan 3, 2023 07:53
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Xiahou Dun posted:That isn’t even a little bit how logic works. what do you think it means for something to be "the soul" of something else? i would assume that it means the first thing is vital to the second but it sounds like you disagree? edit: I see the statement "brevity is the soul of wit" as being functionally identical to the statement "there is no wit without brevity." If that interpretation is correct, the statement is as easy to disprove as "all cats are at least 50 feet tall;" one counterexample immediately disproves it. If that interpretation is incorrect, I admit that leaves a lot of potential holes in my logic. Eeevil fucked around with this message at 08:28 on Jan 3, 2023 |
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Jan 3, 2023 08:11
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Xiahou Dun posted:Do you hold all aphorisms to literalist interpretation. Like only Brits can be penny wise and pound foolish. yes
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Jan 3, 2023 08:47
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I guess I'm the rear end in a top hat for thinking something that was made up to be wrong, is wrong. drat, my bad. While I'm at it, I also think that one definition of insanity quote that everyone loves is insanely dumb.
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Jan 3, 2023 09:28
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