Talk:pithy
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The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for cleanup.
This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.
The first three definitions mean the same thing to me. Combine them and replace with convincing, terse and meaningful. Jamesjiao → T ◊ C 23:30, 7 June 2011 (UTC)
- brief and to the point? DCDuring TALK 03:40, 8 June 2011 (UTC)
- Sounds better than mine! Jamesjiao → T ◊ C 04:40, 8 June 2011 (UTC)
- Just my two cents, but brief and to the point is the same definition as terse, but I don't think they have the same sense. Terse implies spare and unornamented, whereas pithy is more concise and meaningful.--T. Mazzei 03:52, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
- That's only one sense of (deprecated template usage) terse. Another (the one you are thinking of I think) is defined as abruptly or brusquely short. Are you suggesting the former sense should be sent to rfv? — Pingkudimmi 06:32, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
- That's the one I'm thinking of. My issue was with the definition of pithy, since it seems to miss the meaning of the root (pith). But now that you mention it, I don't think brief and to the point defines either term properly. In my mind, the command "Here!" is terse but not pithy, "cogito ergo sum" is pithy but not terse, however both are brief and to the point.--T. Mazzei 14:38, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
- I'm supposing you mean that something pithy is brief, but still communicates the essential element of what is meant. That essential element is "the point." "Cogito ergo sum" is as brief as you can get, IMO, and retain the sense that it is a logical statement, a point that Descartes doubtless intended. The command "Here!" is terse (short and abrupt or brusque), and goes a bit further along the way of brevity, to being ambiguous and dependent on context. That said, I'm not convinced of the apparently separate sense of (deprecated template usage) terse meaning "brief and to the point." I would welcome some citations to demonstrate the use, and thus for it to go to rfv. — Pingkudimmi 18:18, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
- I agree wrt (deprecated template usage) terse, I don't think "brief and to the point" is a separate sense of the word. However, I don't think "brief and to the point" is an accurate definition of (deprecated template usage) pithy either. The statement "The car is parked on the street" is brief and to the point, but it is not pithy. For a statement to be pithy, it has to convey something (deprecated template usage) profound or (deprecated template usage) meaningful; it has to contain (deprecated template usage) pith, as opposed to (deprecated template usage) trivial (deprecated template usage) fact or (deprecated template usage) observation. In fact, I don't think that the original sense of the word necessarily implied (deprecated template usage) brevity at all.--T. Mazzei 18:47, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
- I'm supposing you mean that something pithy is brief, but still communicates the essential element of what is meant. That essential element is "the point." "Cogito ergo sum" is as brief as you can get, IMO, and retain the sense that it is a logical statement, a point that Descartes doubtless intended. The command "Here!" is terse (short and abrupt or brusque), and goes a bit further along the way of brevity, to being ambiguous and dependent on context. That said, I'm not convinced of the apparently separate sense of (deprecated template usage) terse meaning "brief and to the point." I would welcome some citations to demonstrate the use, and thus for it to go to rfv. — Pingkudimmi 18:18, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
- That's the one I'm thinking of. My issue was with the definition of pithy, since it seems to miss the meaning of the root (pith). But now that you mention it, I don't think brief and to the point defines either term properly. In my mind, the command "Here!" is terse but not pithy, "cogito ergo sum" is pithy but not terse, however both are brief and to the point.--T. Mazzei 14:38, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
- That's only one sense of (deprecated template usage) terse. Another (the one you are thinking of I think) is defined as abruptly or brusquely short. Are you suggesting the former sense should be sent to rfv? — Pingkudimmi 06:32, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
- Just my two cents, but brief and to the point is the same definition as terse, but I don't think they have the same sense. Terse implies spare and unornamented, whereas pithy is more concise and meaningful.--T. Mazzei 03:52, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
- Sounds better than mine! Jamesjiao → T ◊ C 04:40, 8 June 2011 (UTC)