Brevity and Wit

Shakespearean character noted for stupidity saying “Brevity is the soul of wit”

It is said that brevity is the soul of wit, it is said so much and so often that the phrase is worn clean through, and I find I no longer care for wit nor its soul.

I do at times wonder though, does wit have any other characteristics, is contempt the shiny boots of wit, or rhetorical excellence its appetite?

Perhaps Oxford commas are the dwindling job prospects of wit?

Can I sacrifice the soul of wit and promise to be a long-winded bore all my days thereby striking a deal with Satan for worldly success?

It’s a shame nobody has ever observed that aphorisms are the shabby coffin of wit, as we might have been spared centuries of people going endlessly on about brevity.

Since the invention and delineation of wit in the popular imagination it has often been claimed that wit is shallow, but the soul is the part of the human that has depth. If wit is shallow and the soul deep it follows that he soul of wit must be extremely brief indeed.

I think wit may not in fact have any briefs, preferring to go commando.

hmm, commandoooo…

What qualities are the souls of other communication strategies. Obviously nap-time is the soul of bureaucratese, but what is the soul of levity, which is closely related to wit, or what the soul of stupidity, its natural antagonist?

That last one is a good question isn’t it? If brevity were the soul of wit then verbosity is the soul of stupidity but the stupidest people are not very known for having a lot to say; they generally stand outside buildings where important things are done with poorly fitted clothes shouting fuck you, a succinct phrase that is as straight to their stupid point as it is lacking in any wit.

Wit circles with seeming little care around to its point, and delights in every point of its journey.

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This article was written by IG Agent 77.

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