See
KeepItSimple. [
Because we do.]
Umm... not to be a wet blanket here, but it is KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) that is the correct term.
KeepItSimpleStupid has been around as a phrase for at least 40 years; there are books named after it; and at the time of writing it has 130,000+ Google hits.
The word "stupid" is an unneeded insult.
It's also funny, which makes the
KissPrinciple more memorable. It wouldn't be a popular principle otherwise.
I don't see your points. Is it funny because of the insult, because the initials form a word, because that word is "kiss" or because appending an unneeded word is not keeping the phrase simple? Does a principle need to be made especially memorable? I have no trouble remembering the shorter version. Moreover, I've never noticed anyone laugh, or even smirk, at the use of the extended phrase.
It's funny when you look at something you're making and realize it applies to
you. Regular application of the mantra "
YouArentGonnaNeedIt,
KeepItSimpleStupid" to yourself has been shown by the Surgeon-General's office to reduce
CreepingFeaturitis by over 60%. Give yourself a
ZenSlap once in a while.
Maybe we can find nicer variations:
This is a Marine Corp term meaning to not over analyze the situation and make it more difficult than it needs to be. K.I.S.S
- Keep it simple, Sir
- Keep it straightforward and simple
Nice idea, but the not-so-nice original is already well-known in other domains. I learned it a year or so ago from a friend of mine who is a high school math teacher, and he learned it in some teacher training course. He tells himself to "keep it simple, stupid" when he's presenting lessons. With a Ph.D. and a horrific IQ, he has to remind himself to be understandable.
{Are you suggesting he is struggling to avoid
MentalMasturbation?}
So let the longer version serve as an introduction to the [better] shorter version devised by polite software engineers by application of the principle!
You sound like one of those pinko California commie freaks that is ruining everything by trying to be politically correct, the original can't be beat, so quit trying to water it down.
- Is a red-state-blue-state civil war about to emerge here?
Now I have a very hard time understanding any controversy surrounding this page and topic. When I was in public school and then in college, 90% of our teachers threw this in our faces every chance they got, going all the way back to grammar school. So, it has been around for a very long time, and much longer than has been suggested, I am sure. The correct phrase is "Keep It Simple, Stupid!".
(
Idioms & catchphrases evolve, s-----! (ICES):-)
Now now, just download Mahir's video clip, and then you will now the meaning of kiss!
Or what about "Keep it stupid simple"?
Keep it
SimplySimplistic would be more honest to what
KeepItSimpleStupid or
KissPrinciple is often used to justify.
Removing the 'stupid' in the phrase ruins the whole point of it, in my opinion. The point being that by creating something really clever and complex, using vast amounts of 'intelligence' in the process, you are actually being 'stupid'. Adding 'stupid' on the end of the phrase is to point out that while piling on cleverness and complexity might seem to be utilizing intelligence, the abandonment of the simple solution is indeed stupid.
- Echoing the above. The "stupid" part isn't an insult, it's there to make you realize you will be stupid from time to time - not keeping it simple. It's the difference between a memorable phrase and a phrase you just gloss over, thinking you already know.
In my 20 years in the Air Force, it was always 'stupid'. There were no alternatives. I don't call people stupid, nor do I allow my child to speak that way, but the idiom is what it is. Trying to change it to something else is like trying to change a horse to a cow. It is what it is. --
BrucePennington
CategoryIdiom
Keep It Simple Stupid
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(last edited October 12, 2009)