Language

JW rightly pointed out that my seemingly brief answer to the kindergarten's questionnaire may not be well accepted.

I forget who taught me this very fact: Language could express your thought, conceal your thought, and often replace your thought.

After all, lengthy description is trendy. (Look at our discharge summary and consultation letters.) It gives the audience an impression that there is much substance in your answer (by the definition of physics, air is a substance - so is faeces) and, in case there's anything wrong, it could be well hidden in the jungle of words.

(It is probably of the latter reason that hand writings of doctors are so difficult to read - you can never prove they have given a wrong drug or mistaken the dosage.)

And, seriously, my friend, if (the headmaster and teachers of) a school could not appreciate a clear and brief answer, I would have much reservation to let my girl study there. Let's leave the place for the children of senior officials who live outside the solar system.

PS. I made an (almost) equally brief written response to the question "Why do you want to study medicine ?" in the application form when I applied for university some 25 years ago, and was fortunate enough to have it well received by a professor at that time.

He was the King of the round table.