Let's say I ask someone to write a very short text, but I want to insist humorously that it should not be too long (less than 50 words).
Could be something like "Don't write the Bible" or "Don't make it a Fidel Castro speech". A kind of exaggeration.
Are there similar ways of saying that in English?
Best Answer
Leo Tolstoy's work War and Peace is often used idiomatically to represent any long, allegedly boring piece of writing.
You can say that you don't want them to give you War and Peace.