I may be wrong, but I think 24G was referring more to properness of the wording rather than the correct length of it. I do agree with many of the more experienced pilots here that some situations force you to say less than ideal.. and not just that but it's purely annoying when other people drawl on and hog up the radio. But in most cases, you could be concise AND use the correct wording. I mean I'll use my example.. instead of saying, "N123AB is with you at three thousand" you could say "N123AB level three thousand." It didn't take longer to say it the second way. Some could argue that it's just a matter of being anal, but it doesn't hurt to be proper. Actually, for some it might. :P