We all get junk mail, both at home and now on the internet. Spamming is commonplace and most of us dump the unsolicited junk emails without reading them.
Something came across my electronic desk today that made me pause and reflect about our bureaucracy and the excess governmental verbiage called gobbledygook. I don't know who wrote it. It was forwarded without attribution.
The truth of the adage that "less is more" is proven in the following email.
The Pythagorean theorem is explained in 24 words.
Archimedes' Principle: 67 words
The 10 commandments: 179 words
The Gettysburg Address: 286 words
The Declaration of Independence: 1,300 words
The US Government regulations on the sale of cabbage: 26,911 words.
Need I say more?
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About Me
- Rolland G. Smith
- Journalist and author of five books of poetry and commentaries. Quiet Musings, Encore - The Poetry of Nature, Stone Wisdom and Naka-Poems from the center and Consider this...(commentaries) I am a sojourner in the spiritual realms of understanding.
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1 comment:
One explanation: with each of those historic examples, the sheer volume of printed words in all forms available to (and understood by) mankind has also increased by the same staggering power. Bottom line: because we can, we use more words to say less than ever before in history. Brevity is not a virtue, and, regrettably, we show no signs of cutting back. And why would we? Printed words have become so valueless (like the copper penny) that we throw more of them in the trash than was even available a hundred years ago.
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