So Clever.

• Author: Hutchison, Gordon
• Position: LITERARY SCENE

Reality (can be OK, but mostly it) Bites highlights original aphorisms and other philosophical fragments with teeth. NOT EVERYONE can rattle off a credible definition of the word "aphorism," but chances are they will recognize one when they see it. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."--Thomas Bertram Lance

According to the Oxford Dictionary, an aphorism is "a pithy observation that contains a general truth." My favorites are the ones that grab me with unorthodox word combinations, juxtapositions, inversions of terms, and other deceptive wordplay. The ones that make me stop and think: "Wait... what?!"

'Time is precious, waste it wisely."--Anonymous

I enjoy the ones I have to read slower the second time, until the "Oh, yeah!" light goes on. (Sometimes it doesn't.)

"Poetry is a religion with no hope."--Jean Cocteau

Then there are the ones that have me laughing out loud before I even know it.

"Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves that they have a better idea."--John Anthony Ciardi

Author James Geary defines eight types of aphorisms. They are the: Chiasmus, Definition, Joke, Metaphor, Moral, Observation, Paradox, and Pensee. Some are relatively straightforward, others deliciously convoluted.

Then there are the nonaphorisms: adages, apothegms, axioms, bromides, dictums, epigrams, mottoes, parables, platitudes, precepts, proverbs, quips, quotations, sound bites, slogans, truisms, and witticisms. Geary believes the aphorism is the world's oldest literary genre. The question is, what makes a good one?

According to Geary (slightiy paraphrased):

* It should be brief. Aphorisms got their start 5,000 years ago in China, but spread throughout the ancient world--a world where literacy was limited to a learned elite. With the teachings of sages and scholars relying largely on oral transmission, the key to longevity was "easy to remember," and the key to "easy to remember" was short, catchy, and relevant.

The great religious masters excelled at phrasing their teachings in terms that simple, uneducated people could understand. With down-to-earth wit and imagery, they crafted messages that had practical value in people's lives--but perhaps most important, oral teachings had to be short. Unlike the lengthy sutra, which required memorization by religious professionals, aphorisms lent themselves to specific situations. With catchy phrasing and relevant content, their brevity ensured the ease of recall crucial to long shelf life with the audiences of the ages--a formula that remains valid, if not as critical, today.

"He is a benefactor of mankind who contracts the great rules of life into short sentences, that may be easily impressed on the memory, and so recur habitually to the...