Dubner invites you to write a new six-word motto for the US.
Some fun ones in the comments include:
- Still Using Fahrenheit, Feet, and Gallons.
- Hubris: it’s not just for Greeks!
- One Nation, Over Weight, Over Budget.
- Our worst critics prefer to stay.
- The world’s scapegoat except in emergencies.
- America: Our poor own big screen TV’s.
- No Lobbyist, No lawyer, no service.
- We’re mostly corn. Check the label.
Need inspiration? Check out Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure:
From small sagas of bittersweet romance (“Found true love, married someone else”) to proud achievements and stinging regrets (“After Harvard, had baby with crackhead”), these terse true tales relate the diversity of human experience in tasty bite-sized pieces. From authors Jonathan Lethem and Richard Ford to comedians Stephen Colbert and Amy Sedaris, to ordinary folks around the world, everyone has a six-word story to tell.
Can you sum up your life so far in six words?
Jason Fried wrote this on Feb 08 2008 There are 47 comments.
Erik Peterson 08 Feb 08
“Succeeded, despite best efforts to fail.”
Evan 08 Feb 08
Nothing really all that summable yet.
Eamon 08 Feb 08
You can’t say he didn’t try.
Tim Barkow 08 Feb 08
Wow! I never thought I’d made the 37signals blog! I’m one of the founders of SMITH magazine, Not Quite What I Was Planning is our first book. Thanks so much for the link!
[shameless plug] We’re collecting six-word memoirs on our site, and fully expect to do a book two (fingers crossed). So drop on by if you like and share your six-word memoir with us. Six-Word Memoirs.
Blair 08 Feb 08
“Jack of all trades, mastered none” “Started strong, squandered opportunity, fell behind” “Lost it all out of spite”
I could go on and on. Wait, that is exactly six words. What the heck is going on? I think I should stop now. No, really, this isn’t funny anymore. Oh, for the love of…
J 08 Feb 08
Physics is hard. Programming pays better.
SH 08 Feb 08
“She just would not. Stop. Talking.”
Etienne Segonzac 08 Feb 08
“I have found my own way”
Ryan 08 Feb 08
I change careers every other year.
John 08 Feb 08
A designer. Not an artist, Dammit.
or
Shouldn’t have been such a curmudgeon. (are contractions legal?)
or
He doesn’t care what you think.
Charles Martin 08 Feb 08
“Work in progress. Watch this space.”
Mike 08 Feb 08
I can’t bank on potential forever.
Chris Vincent 08 Feb 08
“Drums plus programming equals carpal tunnel.”
Charles Martin 08 Feb 08
“Best laid plans of mice and”
Micheal 08 Feb 08
“Ruby on Rails changed my life.”
Jake A. Smith 08 Feb 08
Classic: Problem exists between chair and keyboard.
Vista: Would you like to continue Windows?
Tim Case 08 Feb 08
Dropped acid, woke up in Brazil.
Nate 08 Feb 08
Wow, 4 posts already before noon on a Friday from you guys. That seems historic, and I love it! Keep blogging on Fridays!
Joe 08 Feb 08
forging intelligence, instigating wars, torturing people
Jon Buda 08 Feb 08
I love the simplicity and the restraint of the whole six word story idea. You can really fantastic thoughts out in a mere six words.
Coincidentally, the day before I read this post, I launched insixwords.com to allow people to get their six word thoughts out to the world.
Proudly built with Ruby on Rails!
Peter Cooper 08 Feb 08
This reminds me of the BarCamp “three word introductions” rule! 3 words is hard, 6 words.. a little easier :) My own.. “Successfully introverted, loud mouthed polyglot technografter.” I guess that could be a description OR a memoir!
Jamie Tibbetts 08 Feb 08
Haven’t achieved much, but still trying
Joga Luce 08 Feb 08
zzz. hunh? zzzZzZzz. ow! what the?!
more to learn, less to sleep
“america eats its young”, induce vomiting!
back to work. I mean it.
Jesse Bilsten 08 Feb 08
“One media to rule them all.” “Dyslexia when is you words reverse.” “Hezbollian Suiciders Nuculear Strategery Mission Accomplished”
Icelander 08 Feb 08
Still lazy after all these years
Joe Casabona 08 Feb 08
I swear I’ll do it tomorrow.
Always busy but pretty successful student.
FredS 08 Feb 08
Get A BRAIN ! Morans Go USA
Jeremy Raines 08 Feb 08
Glad someone is doing hard math
Phonebook 08 Feb 08
I’m not lonely; I’m just alone.
lucky 08 Feb 08
lucky bastard, just fun and love
oscar7g 08 Feb 08
No. I won’t change the font.
riki 09 Feb 08
The best and worst of everything.
Bryan 09 Feb 08
Can you make the logo bigger?
Dhrmil 09 Feb 08
dont stop believing
chrisco 09 Feb 08
For the new U.S. motto contest:
Where did we go so wrong? How to turn love into hate. bush plus dick equals screwed [bad]. george bush, Abu Ghraib, and Gitmo. george bush, our nightmade is yours. God told him to do it.
matt 09 Feb 08
Still haven’t figured it all out.
Russ 09 Feb 08
No. No. No! Well, okay, maybe.
Marlyse Comte 10 Feb 08
From my point of view counting combined words (contractions) as in “isn’t” just as one word is not 100% correct because… well, “isn’t” is actually “is not” and thus basically not one word, even though technically you could argue it is.
I’m here, so I am.
some guy 10 Feb 08
Java sucks. Hm, what about Ruby?
Steve R. 10 Feb 08
Not an idiot, despite the evidence.
Tom G 11 Feb 08
Still The Land Of The Free
Frank Gilroy 11 Feb 08
I actually made it into the book, page 132.
Lazy Programmer, Ugly Runner, NASCAR Dad.”
Web Design 11 Feb 08
tough but beautiful
The Hype 11 Feb 08
An engineer who should be writing.
john 11 Feb 08
“Dreaming my life away accounts for nothing”
wait, thats 7, dang it, gotta get my head out of the clouds.
Fred 11 Feb 08
Goal: Do right, work hard, die happy.
Reality: Blunder about, trying things, growing older.
Reda 12 Feb 08
We Hypnotize, You Buy, We Rule
This discussion is closed.