Some of you may have heard this on Radio 4...

In the 1920s, Ernest Hemingway bet ten dollars that he could write a complete story in just six words. He wrote: "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn." He won the bet.

Now an online magazine is asking its readers to sum up their own lives in just six words.

Can you sum up your life in six words?

For today, mine is: Born knowing nothing. Know less now.

Been there, done that, never again ...........

I think there’s a huge difference between telling a whole story in 6 words, and summing up ones life in 6 words.

Hemingway’s "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn" really does tell a whole story, it is a literary masterpiece – it encourages one to ponder what the story behind the words might have been, which is what one assumes he was trying to achieve.

/* I once wrote my profile in six words (as some here might remember) but they probably didn’t know that I’d used Hemingway’s $10 bet story as the template for it:
Wanted: girl, must like dogs */


To sum up my own life in 6 words: Rock paper scissors (I lost again)

I think you're right - there is a huge difference, and I think both would make interesting posts.

Splitting hairs, but isn't "Wanted: girl, must like dogs" only five words? What's the missing word - I'm curious!

Aah...

I was thinking the missing word might be 'hot', and that it belonged after love.

But 'a' is fine too.

I think if I was to do my profile in 6 words, it would say "James Blunt fan? Potental soulmate unlikely."