Parsimony

In each of my classes this semester, we discussed parsimony. To my professor's delight, this complicated little word means simple. Short, cut to the chase, simple, easy, parsimonious. I love the word and the idea, but parsimonious is something that I am not. It takes me forever to tell a story, I include every detail possible with the belief that, in order to understand what I am saying, one must know every little detail. I use a lot of words to describe things and sometimes speak in the some way that I write papers.

One important thing to remember in writting is parsimony. No one likes to read, in fact, there is a utensil dispenser at work that customers can never seem to find. Interestingly enough, the more signs that I put on the dispenser, the more people can not find it. In an effort to have customers notice the dispenser, I put a huge sign on the top of the dispenser that says, "UTENSILS!" and I am convinced that people avert their attention because they see words. People hate to read. People don't read their emails, don't read signs. People just don't read.

All of my blogs are very long. They have a lot of words and a lot of thought. Definitely not parsimonious. I'm not parsimonious and will only be parsimonious when I need to be. The beauty of having my own blog is that I have the creative freedom to type all of what I want, say whatever I want to and it doesn't have to be concise or parsimonious.

My ramblings about parsimony are mostly because it is a funky little word that was on my hardcore Research Methods exam I just took. I feel good about it. I'm not exactly sure how well I did, but I'm almost sure I will score a B. The exam itself wasn't hard, it was just one of those exams you look at and your mind goes to scrambled eggs. I think I did a good job of making sure those scrambled eggs were "well done."

Will I ever be parsimonious? Probably not. That's what makes me who I am and actually has a lot of benefit from time to time. I'm okay with the fact that it takes me three sentences to describe well what someone might be able to in a few words. Although theories and research designs must be parsimonious, I don't. And I like that.

with love,

steph