long and short
The whole story
Long and short describes the essential summary of something, stripped of elaboration—what remains when you cut away the details: The long and short of it is we can't afford the house.
The phrase suggests that whether you tell the full version or the brief one, the conclusion is the same.
Almost always appears as the long and short of it.
- tallOf considerable height
- tall orderDifficult request to fulfill
- briefShort in duration
- extendedLengthened in time or space
- abbreviatedMade shorter, typically words
distance · height · duration · stretch · compact · elongated · truncated · measure · span · far · near · time · quick · slow · inch · mile · moment · eternity
long and shortblow-by-blow
Exhaustively detailed account
the whole nine yards · chapter and verse · deep dive · the whole story · the whole shebang
long and shortbeating around the bush
Avoiding direct communication
circumlocution · equivocation · hemming and hawing · digression · tangent
long, short, longer, longest, length, lengthen, lengthy, longish, longitude