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The long and the short of it.

While we’re at it, Joey Messina posted an interesting question at the end of an old, old entry:

just have one comment what does long story, short pier mean?
looked it up but cannot find anything

And I was going to say something, but then it occurred to me: before I open my big mouth, why not open-mike it? See if anyone out there on the other side of the screen has an answer that might be different than mine. Or theirs. Or yours.

So: what does “long story; short pier” mean? Anyone?

—Filed 2001 days ago to ; .

  1. Well, it's just the kind of referential phrase one can expect from you. Obviously a nod to "long walk - short pier," it captures a certain stance you fall into readily: overextension. Though it is deliberately vague enough so as to invite other, more fully-developed, thoughtful, and interesting opinions than mine. Or it could be that we all just end up wet.
    — Scott    Mar 15, 05:43 PM    #
  2. Actually, Scott, your overextension analogy is definitely interesting and well thought-out.

    I wouldn't normally race to refine or redefine it any further, but since my daffy meanderings are actually being solicited, well...

    On a certain level I think the "Long Story" setup represents the metaphoric library of collective human experience, and the "Short Pier" punchline points to our futile inability to gather and employ any significant amount of this data in the brief time we have been given to examine it.

    But yeah. Mostly what Scott said.
    — Mike    Mar 16, 02:39 AM    #
  3. Well, I had been hoping for more (who wouldn't? —This is about as LiveJournally as I hope to get, by the way, to cast totally unfair aspersions on a perfectly fine blogging tool), but Scott pretty much nailed it, so humpf. Fine. Overextension it is. (I'm still mopping coffee out of my keyboard, by the way.)
    — --k.    Mar 17, 03:31 AM    #
  4. If it helps any, I remember you fondly for your overextension. (There must be a better word for it than that, but I have been deserted by my vocabulary this morning.)

    In any case, I appreciate that you are willing to walk out into the open air, while I feel I can only watch from the edge and occasionally dip my toe in the brine.

    If I can cause one coffee-spew per day, I feel accomplished.
    — Scott    Mar 17, 06:37 AM    #
  5. I suppose it's already been settled, but I gleaned a few images from the phrase, mostly involving a sort of tumble into narrative. There's a definite fall, there. Impatient headlong rush, etc, potentially ill-advised but also potentially joyous.

    Not as elegant as Scott's, but I enjoy it.

    — Sundre    Mar 17, 04:28 PM    #
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