The Bard Says: Bridge the Gap… Just Barely

You’d probably have ample opportunity to use this phrase, though the person you’d quote it to might not get the analogy at first. You’d have to use clear intonation to verbally convey the illustration with any success:

PEDRO
What need the bridge be much broader than the flood?
(Ado.I.1.300)

(It’s followed by “The fairest grant is the necessity. | Look, what will serve is fit.” Pelican tells us this means “The best gift is whatever is needed.” I would add the word only–”…only what is needed.”)

Pedro says this to Claudio meaning that one need not say more than is necessary to properly convey one’s meaning (and readers of this blog may wish that I take Pedro’s advice). The expression, however, can be used to illustrate any situation in which a minimum requirement of something–anything–will suffice. For instance, you could say this to someone who comments on how small your beer fridge is… if you only need a small beer fridge to accommodate your drinking habits (”the flood”). Why get a bigger fridge?

I need a bigger fridge.

Photo by peter pearson.