Idioma: Español

Enunciado: Lo bueno, si breve, dos veces bueno

Ideas clave: Tiempo

Significado: Recomienda brevedad en todo lo que se haga.

Marcador de uso: De uso actual

Comentario al marcador de uso: Con frecuencia se dice solo la primera parte: Lo bueno, si breve.....

 Fuentes: Fuente literaria

 Observaciones: Frase muy popularizada escrita por Baltasar Gracián en el Oráculo manual y arte de prudencia (Huesca: Juan Nogues, 1647), quien añadía: «Y aun lo malo, si poco, no tan malo». Esta obra literaria pertenece a la prosa didáctica de Gracián; comprende trescientos aforismos comentados, los cuales constituyen un conjunto de normas para triunfar en la sociedad contemporánea a Gracián, el Barroco. En muchas ocasiones, se dice: Lo breve, si bueno, dos veces bueno.

In the 60s a satirical  magazine in Buenos Aires called Tía Vicenta featured the aphorism by one Baltasar Gracián on the right hand side of its front page. It read:

 Lo bueno y breve dos veces buenos – Gracian

 This translates to: brief and good, twice as good.

I remember in that past 20th century that in design the aphorism “form follows function” was paramount. It stressed the idea of simplicity.

Four years ago we purchased a Chevrolet Cruze. None of the service representatives (at that time) knew about the concept of pairing a phone to the car. Since then that has become old hat and we depend on the backup camera, the heated seats and steering wheel and hands free talking to our daughters and friend in the car. We are used to these advances and now could not live without any of them especially a heated toilet seat.

Recently Telus informed me that my email was going to be “migrated” from their server (if it was notoriously bad why do they not acknowledge that?) to a Google/Gmail server that is much better. I chose my date for this migration (today). It took a patient Guatemalan tech guy two hours to help me in the move. But he was unable, once I was successfully migrated, to figure out why my Android phone will not send or receive.

I went to the Telus Store a two blocks away (they politely tell me surrounded by Telus ads that they are not Telus). They told me that they are not really equipped to help with email concerns. They gave me a phone number to call.

My question here is if migrating was such a good thing why was it made so complex? I am 78 and not entirely stupid or ignorant of technology. Am I alone or are there legions of others not migrating well?

But most troubling for me is the idea that what used to be a great Canadian telecommunications company is now depending on an a huge American near monopolistic that is what Google is. 

Baltasar Gracián might have written: Good and simple, twice as good.