Ancient, medieval, Islamic and world history -- comments, resources and discussion.
Monday, December 10, 2007
"Long story short"
Is this perhaps a punctuation mark disguised as a phrase? In any case, one of my students used it in the midst of a mini-essay on an exam to hurry things along, and it quite did the trick.
Without even the courtesy of "to make a" in preface? Sheesh! And one would suggest that the essay is the perfect venue to spin out the long story, especially if one is pressed for actual content as so many exam-writing students appear to be.
Is this perhaps a punctuation mark disguised as a phrase? In any case, one of my students used it in the midst of a mini-essay on an exam to hurry things along, and it quite did the trick.
Without even the courtesy of "to make a" in preface? Sheesh! And one would suggest that the essay is the perfect venue to spin out the long story, especially if one is pressed for actual content as so many exam-writing students appear to be.
ReplyDeleteAh, but it's the omission of those three words that make it a punctuation mark.
ReplyDeleteI was reading a book last night -- modern fiction -- where a character used the phrase "long sad story" in exactly the same way.