What does this sentence mean?

Hi everyone,

“An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less until he knows absolutely everything about nothing.”

I came across the above sentence in Political Lurker’s signature, but can’t make out what it truly means. Would you please explain it for me?

Thanks in advance.

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It’s a jocose remark.
It’s a corollary of an age-old adage that goes: if you’re a jack of all trades, then you’re a master of none.
If you want to be an expert, you need to narrow your field of expertise and learn a lot about it. The more you narrow it, the more you know about it (because you have less and less to learn about), until you narrow it down to nothing and know absolutely everything about nothing.

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You have given a fantastic reply, but where did you get that

Thanks, I love positive feedback :slight_smile:

Thanks OTS, so the second part of the sentence is only there for jocose purpose; I thought it had some philosophical meanings lol.

The entire phrase is meant to be jocular, Atomos, not just the second part.

Here’s another definition of an expert:

expert =
ex - an old has been
spurt - a drip under pressure.

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Hi,

I don’t think your friend Amy will be too pleased about that definition!

Alan

I’m sure she’ll see the funny side.
People who are secure in their expertise generally do.

.

Well - er- yes but I thought you were poking fun at the title ‘expert’ that people give themselves. Whereas the whole world acknowledges that David Crystal is an expert in his field, I can’t imagine him describing himself as such.

Alan

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