Comments on: Well we’re waiting here in allentown, for the pennsylvania we never found https://mikesouth.com/goddess/well-were-waiting-here-in-allentown-for-the-pennsylvania-we-never-found-2075/ The institute for the advance study of insensitivity and pornography Sat, 08 Jul 2023 13:39:37 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 By: Frank https://mikesouth.com/goddess/well-were-waiting-here-in-allentown-for-the-pennsylvania-we-never-found-2075/#comment-496 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:12:37 +0000 http://www.mikesouth.com/goddess/well-were-waiting-here-in-allentown-for-the-pennsylvania-we-never-found-2075/#comment-496 Mr. Ben Franklin also told a story of a hat maker, to make a point on the importance of “Brevity”. Sadly, an idea completely lost on today’s candidates.

For those who don’t know the story…

Franklin told of a hat maker who proposed to advertise with this sign: “John Thompson, Hatter, makes and sells hats for ready money” (with the figure of a hat). But Thompson’s friends urged many deletions: “Hatter” was redundant; “makes” was unnecessary (customers don’t care who made the hat); “sells” was implicit; “hats” was redundant of the figure of a hat; “for ready money” was implicit because selling on credit was not customary. What remained was the core message: “John Thompson” (and the figure of a hat).

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