Be Brief and Be Seated: Exercises in Economy

Franklin Roosevelt once gave his son this advice on public speaking: “Be sincere, be brief and be seated.” Here are some ideas from around the web to help you teach brevity to your students:

• Onesentence.org–Tell a significant story about your life in one sentence. Examples:
  • “Knowing that my miscarriage brought him relief is something I’m not sure I’ll ever forget.”
  • “I married my husband on our first date, but it has taken me more than 5 years to decide what colour to paint our dining room.”
  • “It was one of those exams that you absolutely must pass if you want to continue in the program, and I failed the set-your-alarm-clock-properly portion.”
  • “When asked to name the one person absent from her life that she missed the most, she responded, ‘The person I hoped I’d be by this point in my life.'”
  • “Recently I realized that I waste my life on the internet … and published this insight in a blog.”
• Four Word Film Review–Examples for The Simpsons Movie
  • Just D’oh It!
  • More Doh for Groening
  • Why, Caramba?
  • Magnum D’OH!-pus
  • Stupendously Silly Simpsons Satire
• ADD Music Reviews and ADD Movie Reviews: Reviews in 20 words or less

And one of my favorite concepts, the 50-word story:

Pretty High-Powered Stuff

The assistant was explaining. “With this microscope, we can look ten thousand times closer than ever before. Inside the nucleus of a single atom.” he told waiting press. The eminent professor – privileged first observer – cried out, aghast. “What did you see?” they asked.

“…a-another universe,” he stammered, “…just like ours.”

The Ultimate Technological Advance

A nation waited, speechless. Press were informed of new developments. “Our secret computer links with Moscow have detected a major nuclear offensive against us. We had no option but launch warheads into Russian territory. Four minutes and counting. Prepare for war.”

A hungry soviet mouse continued chewing into the wires

You can read some of the best 50-word stories in The World’s Shortest Stories edited by Steve Moss.