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The long and the short of it

The adjective ‘short’ is used in a variety of ways.

The long and the short of it


Ratna Raman

The adjective  ‘short’ is used in a variety of ways.  When used as a suffix, it describes a wide range of human experience. People of diminutive height are referred to as short. Being short is relative most of the time, because invariably there is always someone who is much taller. ‘Short statured’ people have achieved fame through their exploits, talents and charisma.

‘Short sleeves’, ‘short skirts’, and shorts form part of trendy urban summer fashions. ‘Short hair’ is a more functional styling choice. One can shorten the length of a dress or hair with little effort, but it is a bad idea to shorten one’s lifespan by unhealthy lifestyle choices.

‘Shortening’ (noun) also refers to non-dairy fats used for baking cakes and biscuits. ‘Short bread’ however never tastes good without real butter.

‘Shortness of breath’ needs to be taken seriously. Of course you could be short of breath in the sense of gasping for air or breathing heavily after running up or down a flight of stairs. The ability to take  deep breaths indicates respiratory fitness and good health. 

Shorthand is a system of  rapid writing with strokes and symbols useful for dictation.

Stores and offices tend to be ‘short-handed’ or ‘short-staffed’ (fewer  workers than usual) in the festive season.  A short staff is a stout stick, used for walking.

‘Short leg’ and ‘short stop’ are fielding positions in cricket and baseball, respectively. Shortages of food, water and resources, because of natural or man made calamities, make for hostile living conditions. Lacking blueprints for disaster management  we remain unable to pursue both short-term and long-term solutions for crisis management.

The absence of quality checks and due diligence encourages contractors to take ‘shortcuts’ in the process of  building roads, resulting in potholed roadways. We  also continue to ‘shortchange’ (receive less money than they have spent) our farmers when we are unable to guarantee them adequate prices for their produce.

A short supply or shortfall  in essential items is always a problem. These can be both quantitative  and abstract. Shortfalls that deal with non-availability of material can be dealt with. However, ‘shortcomings’ (faults) in conduct or policy implementation remain outside the ambit of easy redressal. Arguably, a world in which we are short on ideals, dreams, goals  or solutions is a terrible place to be in, because then we remain eternally short of transformative possibilities.

A ‘short circuit’is often responsible for fires that gut factories. Short-term policies with regard to education, if not reviewed and modified at regular intervals,  will end up short-circuiting  (cause a breakdown) the system.

‘Shortsighted’ people find it difficult to see far-off objects. Short-sighted perspectives are invariably damaging and their hasty implementation often leaves people feeling that they have been given ‘the short end of the stick’ (unfair treatment).

In the ‘short time’ left for the presidential elections, Trumps’ ‘short range’ targeting of women and minorities as fair game, may stretch out considerably what could have been a ‘short distance’ to absolute power.

Closer home, giving creativity and dialogue ‘short shrift’ (unsympathetic dismissal) in the context of political hostility can only make for ‘short-lived bilateral relations’.

‘The long and the short of it’ (in general) is that serious situations demand thoughtful solutions. Bad judgements and aggressive posturing grabs us by ‘the short and curlies’ and can trigger off short fuses (angry reactions) rendering complex human circuits powerless.

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