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If
Mr Einstein would have his way, everything is relative. Small is a
relative term. A small child is a toddler or perhaps a five year old
just off to kindergarten, or an undersized 10 year old. A small
craft, as in small craft advisories issued by the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, refers to a vessel less than sixty
feet in length. And smalls are --- at least in Britain and Australia
--- one's undergarments. Small, clearly, is relative.
photo
by merrily simoni
A
small boat, then, can be an 8' pram, a 24' sloop, a 50' ketch or any
other of the many configurations of hulls and rigging as long as it
is less than sixty feet in length. Despite NOAA's dictum, to the
dapper gent on the upper deck of a 1000' foot cruise ship halfway to
Hilo, a 100' yacht may seem dismally small. That is what relativity
is all about. Eye of the beholder, you see. Point of reference and
all that.
Small
talk is the medium with which humans weave their social fabrics.
How's the weather? Baked a cake today. The dog's got fleas. Some
people are better chatting comfortably with their fellows than
others. Darwin had no use for what he considered inanities. Serious
fellow, this Darwin. Much too busy explicating evolution to natter
away about a rainy day. Most talk at the bus stop, if any talk there
be, is not about the speed of light in a vacuum.
Simplicity,
it seems to me, is inversely proportional to size. Growth inevitably
leads to complication. Detroit is far more complex than Winnemucca.
This inverse proportion seems to hold true for everything from
strawberries to planets. An amoeba makes an interesting study. Cancer
cells offer frustration and endless deliberation.
This
brings us to the relationship between elegance and simplicity. The
pairing of these two --- simple elegance; elegant simplicity --- is
well documented. Indeed, elegance is often defined as beauty marked
by an unusual simplicity which is focused on one essential feature of
a person, place or thing: one color, one shape, one sound. Cacaphonic
music would never be labeled elegant.
So we posit another inverse relationship:
complexity, and thus size, must be the ruin of elegance. Complexity
tends to stun one's cerebral cortex so that focus is lost and
confusion reigns. Perhaps the redwood tree is an exception. Or
whales. Nevertheless ...
Etymology
offers some insight.
Small
comes from the Old English smael
which is of Germanic origin and related to Dutch smal
and German schmal.
Latin for 'small' is, among other translations, parvus
carrying the meaning 'short'
as well as 'small'. Synonyms for 'small' are compact, little, and
bijou. Bijou, by the bye (in the 1500s, this word 'bye'
referred to a side path, down which we have wandered ...) is
synonymous with small, little, compact, snug, cozy.
Simple
comes from Middle English from
Old French from the Latin simplus.
The noun form of the word originally (mid 16th century) referred to
a medicine made from one constituent, especially from one plant.
Current synonyms are uncomplicated, without much decoration or
ornamentation, composed of a single element, not compound.
Elegant
originated in the late 15th century from French from the Latin
elegans
which is related to eligere,
to chose or select. As an adjective, the word carries the definitions
of pleasingly graceful, tasteful, discerning, refined, among others.
When referring to a scientific theory or solution to a problem, the
definition is pleasingly ingenious and simple.
photo
by gv simoni
The
relationship between the three words is, admittedly, rather
convoluted; which is to say, alas, complicated and therefore not the
least bit elegant. Both 'small' and 'simple' have multiple meanings
and 'elegant' traces its origins to a different source entirely so
the link is tenuous. One must reach for it. Perhaps it is a bit of a
stretch, but a common thread does run through these concepts.
The
connection comes from the definition 'one': one plant, one thing,
etc. 'One' suggests an integrity, something that is not duplicit
(two-faced, false). Integrity might well be the common thread to
elegance; and, by extension, to simplicity and smallness as well.
So
what difference does it all make? Most people of sense would find
integrity an important concept. Elegance is, I fear, rarely
considered. Americans are driven by size, the bigger the better. The
fact of the matter is that small boats give far more pleasure than
large boats. Most boats of any size spend their days tied up in the
marina while dinghies, kayaks, and drift boats are out and about
exploring the watery byes. Small boats get used. Cliches abound
extolling the benefits of small: keep it simple stupid, walk before
you run, brevity is the essence of wit, know when to stop. Even the
Peter Principle has at its core the folly of increasing growth ( ...
in management, one rises to his or her level of incompetence). And
the classic philosophic principal, Occam's Razor, might be the last
word on the subject:
Entities
should not be multiplied without necessity.
