Have you ever noticed that when someone says, ‘To make a long story short,’ that it’s nearly guaranteed to be a long story needlessly longer? And that they’ll sprinkle that phrase throughout the auditory rendition?
I’ve also realized that when a speaker says that their presentation is short – they generally mean it’s longer and more disappointedly, boring.
There was a grocery store who used to advertise, ‘If we’re slow, let us know!’ I remember waiting in line at that store with the catchy slogan running over and over in my mind as it took seemingly forever for my turn with the cashier.
My theory is that if there weren’t promises made to set the expectation dial to ‘hopeful,’ then we wouldn’t know the difference. Better to work in the other direction, if you ask me.
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