“Good,” said the judge, rapping his gavel three times. “I always have trouble remembering the long ones. How about ‘I am’? That’s the shortest sentence I know.”

The gavel gives the moment an air of authority, but the judge's concern is simply remembering the words. 'Sentence' makes room for a joke about language inside a formal setting. The tiny 'I am' brings the conversation down to something almost comically manageable.

Context reviewed 19 September 2026