Saturday Rave: the sharply aimed tweet.

As all the good creative writing advice in the world can be boiled down to MISS OUT UNNECESSARY WORDS then Twitter, with its hundred-and-forty-character limit on posts, should be the ideal place to find cogent and elegantly-turned writing.

On the whole, though, it isn't. Most tweets revolve round BUY, LOOK, and VISIT, and that really doesn't make for very interesting reading.

This doesn't mean, though, that the elegant tweet is impossible.

Matt Ingebretson @mattingebretson's:

Sometimes I like to go down to the pond dressed as a giant duck and throw entire loaves of bread at people.

adds joy to the world. I wouldn't vote it the very best of Twitter, though, because basically it's just a very good joke, and for me the very finest examples of this essentially ephemeral medium display some element of contemporary satire.

So how about Bridger Winegar's @bridger-w I can almost always tell if a movie doesn't use real dinosaurs

which manages to make fun of both CGI movies and their audiences in a tiny space? I think it's brilliant.

But my current favourite (though this is probably because I've spent a lot of the last week trying to get through to various banks) is from John Silver @BlueLanugo:

Your call is very important to us. Please enjoy this 40 minute flute solo.

Though I have to say that in my experience

Your call is very important to us. For the foreseeable future please enjoy this 16 bar flute solo again and again and...

would be even better.

Word To Use Today: tweet. This word originated in the 1800s. It's an imitation of birdsong.