Famous Quips Suckered Us!
It’s probably high time to incorporate a little Shakespeare into Suckered.us. Here are a few lines from Hamlet (Polonius speaking to the Queen) I often quote when asked what I think the essence of humor is:
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief: your noble son is mad…
Yes, indubitably brevity is the soul of wit . Think about how short some of the funniest quips are:
- “I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it.” - Groucho Marx
- “I took a test in Existentialism. I left all the answers blank and got 100.” – Woody Allen
- “I was walking down the street wearing glasses when the prescription ran out.” - Steven Wright
- “In Beverly Hills…they don’t throw their garbage away. They make it into television shows.” – Woody Allen
- “If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.” - Dorothy Parker
- “Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering - and it’s all over much too soon.” – Woody Allen
- “Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.” – Groucho Marx
By comparison, here’s a quip with a long setup:
Interestingly, according to modern astronomers, space is finite. This is a very comforting thought– particularly for people who can never remember where they have left things.” – Woody Allen
I used Woody because I used him in the shorter examples, too. Yes, he’s still a comic genius, but the lines he’ll always be remembered for are the short ones, in my humble opinion.
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