Long story short

Sometimes, you tell a story and it’s a little long. You sense your listener might be getting bored. You want to summarize the story. So you say, “Long story short…” and then you summarize the story.

Today, you heard a little bit about the history of diamonds and how they were made, deep under the Earth’s surface, and how they rose to the top. Then you heard this: “Long story short: Mother Earth is not making any more diamonds.”

This was a quick summary of the story you had just heard.

When you’re ready to quickly summarize the story, just say “Long story short” and then give the summary–but really make it short this time!