Inspired by a recent posting from our illustrious colleague over at openbrackets the editorial collective decided to try its hand at aphorism building. She’s right, of course: a good aphorism is the only certain path to literary immortality.

After a few false starts (“Capitalism is the unequal distribution… no, wait…”; “Truth is like the flu: … hang on… maybe not…”) they collectively came up with following aphorism candidate during the morning shower:

Humans are odd soft-shelled creatures who walk around with their egos on the outside in order to protect their sense of humor.

— © 2005 texts & pretexts inc.; all rights reserved

We encourage you to use it promiscuously: sprinkle it casually into your cocktail conversation; cite it frequently in your academic papers; riff on it; expand upon it; incorporate it into the song lyrics of your next CD release (“Odd Soft-Shelled Creatures: The Club Mix”).

Sample usage: “Why, I believe it was the editorial collective over at texts & pretexts who described humans as these odd soft-shelled creatures that walk around with their egos on the outside in order to protect their sense of humor; I didn’t get it though…”

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