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It was one of the dullest speeches I ever heard. The Agee woman told us for three quarters of an hour how she came to write her beastly book, when a simple apology was all that was required.
P. G. Wodehouse
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote humorously criticizes a lengthy explanation that overshadowed a simple need for an apology.

In this quote, P.G. Wodehouse highlights the absurdity of over-explaining situations that require straightforward communication. The speaker's frustration with a long-winded explanation about a book, when a simple apology would suffice, exemplifies how communication can often become unnecessarily convoluted, leading to boredom and irritation.

Themes

CommunicationHumorApologyCritiqueSimplicity

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about effective communication, you might use this quote to illustrate the importance of brevity.

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I turned on the pillow with a little moan, and at this juncture Jeeves entered with the vital oolong. I clutched at it like a drowning man at a straw hat.
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Memories are like mulligatawny soup in a cheap restaurant. It is wiser not to stir them.
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It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he was hunting in Kenya that had caused A. B. Spottsworth to make the obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought it wasn't.
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