Laconism
(LAK uh niz um) noun
We are more familiar with the adjective laconic (luh KON ik) than the noun laconism, a concise style of language, brevity; also applied to a short, pithy statement. Laconia was long ago a country in the southern part of Greece, with Sparta as its capital. The Spartans were concise, brusque, and pithy in their speech, hence, laconic, under which entry in this author’s book, 1000 Most Important Words we read: “Philip of Macedonia wrote to the Spartan officials: ‘If I enter Laconia, I will level Sparta to the ground.’ Their answer: ‘If.’ Ceasar’s famous ‘Veni, vidi, vici’ (‘I came, I saw, I conquered’) is a famous example of laconic speech – not a word wasted.”
When General Sir Charles Napier (1782-1855) finally completed the conquest of Sind, a province of India, the story goes, he cabled the War Office one word: “peccavi” (Latin for “I have sinned”). Quite a laconism, and quite a paronomasia (a pun or word play) in the bargain, even though the cable is generally believed to be apochryphal. And finally, the message radioed by an American pilot in World War II: “Sighted sub, sank same,” an alliterative laconism.
From the book,“1000 Most Challenging Words” by Norman W. Schur, ©1987 by the Ballantine Reference Library, Random House.
Napier’s supposed cable is hilarious. If ever I turn my skills to conquering I’ll make it a point to brush up on my laconism. In the meantime my sentences will strive to achieve maximum word potential.
Parting thought: William Faulkner’s Absalom is the antithesis of laconism. There are whole pages that show no evidence of a single period. Bill must have been living in Carthage when he wrote the book.