In a nutshell, he rocks

In a nutshell, you need good English speaking skills, confidence and good technical knowledge to get a good job. After that, it is your performance and the ability to get results that counts.

He is a drug addict, a sentimental lover, an indifferent son and a ruthless avenger. In a nutshell, Faisal Khan is a fascinating character.

Imagine a nutshell with a nut inside. What do you see? A small piece of hard covering with the real stuff packed inside. That is the core idea of the phrase, in a nutshell.

Hard covering essentially signifies limits – and the nut inside signifies the real thing, the main point. Thus, when you say, “Tell me in a nutshell”, what you are essentially saying is, “Give me the main point and make it short”. Two things prominent – the limits (so anything in a nutshell is summarized, cannot have long explanations) and the main point.

Let’s take some examples:

1. In a nutshell, Mr Sharma was away on work and some burglars sneaked into his flat. It was a simple security failure and the security company has been pulled up for this.
2. The movie started as a love story, then introduced some comic elements and then also had a ghost. That’s not all, a revenge drama and a spy scandal was also thrown in for good measure. The audience was thoroughly confused and many people didn’t even wait for the movie to get over. In a nutshell, the movie was a waste of 300 bucks and 3 hours.
3. The city is over crowded, noisy, has serious law and order problems, has poor electricity supply and bad network connectivity. In a nutshell, it is not a place where you would want to spend a lot of time.
4. His performance does not live upto the expectations, he is forever unavailable on phone, he fights with his co-workers, is never on time and hasn’t yet completed a project. In a nutshell, he is a liability to the organization.