#718 Shakespeare and Spartans

Laconic Poets Say: “Brevity Is the Soul of Wit.”

Once upon a time… When I had both a head full of hair and a mouth full of braces (hah!), my 6th-grade English teacher, Mrs. Ruscher taught me that: “Short and sweet is hard to beat.

(btw: Where’s the emoji for braces when you need it?!)

Fast-forward a few years to me in high school studying Hamlet. Shakespeare (via Polonius) tells us that “Brevity is the soul of wit.

Fast-forward to today and my joy in delivering more wisdom in less time in a style that would, I hope, make Mrs. Ruscher proud.

Now…

Let’s get one step closer to the point of Today’s +1.

As I was preparing for our Heroic Coach training, I was excited about having a bunch of time for interactive Q&A.

And…

I was planning to coach our Coaches to practice being precise in our language as a means to be clear in our thinking and respectful of other people’s time.

Which led me back to Mr. American Heritage Dictionary.

I looked up the word laconic.

Here’s what I found.

The dictionary defines laconic as “(of a person, speech, or style of writing) using very few words.”

← I love that.

But here’s what I found most interesting.

The word laconic is from the Greek word Laconia which was the name of the region in the southeastern part of ancient Greece.

Pop quiz! Do you know what the biggest city in Laconia was called?

Sparta.

Yet another reason why I’m thrilled to be so ALL IN on Spartan!!! (Hah.)

That’s Today’s +1.

Me. You. Mrs. Ruscher. Shakespeare.

All hanging out in Laconia.

Here’s to being precise with our speech today!

P.S. The Google Gods answered my prayers re: the emoji for braces:

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