Meaning:
This is a 17th century phrase describing the life of mankind when in a state
of war.
Background:
`Nasty, brutish and short' is a quotation from Thomas Hobbes' book Leviathan,
1651 - not a firm of particularly unpleasant lawyers as some wags have
suggested.
The fuller quotation of this phrase is even less appealing - "solitary, poor,
nasty, brutish, and short". Hobbes described the natural state of mankind
(the state pertaining before a central government is formed) as a "warre of
every man against every man".
...
In 1998, the UK comedienne Jo Brand used "nasty, brutish and short" to
describe the diminutive, right-wing comedian Jim Davidson, who supported
Margaret Thatcher through an era when virtually all other British comedians
didn't.
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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My friend Bill used to work for a Taiwanese shop here in the Bay Area. They paid
well but the managers acted like Chinese officials and warlords. Bill didn't
come to America to live again under that kind of hierachy. He might have pushed
his boss too hard and at one point, the latter even hinted physical violence.
His career at that company was nasty, brutish, and short.
