(Shrug...)

“And then again, there really is such a thing as too much ‘terseness,’ ” he observed.

I guess that my biggest objection to writing things this way is that “it sounds like the programmer is stuttering.” Anyhow, the un-trained eye could easily gloss over the apparently-substantial difference between and and “this andand thing,” which, although it superficially appears to be a word (specifically, a logical-operator of some sort...), apparently isn't.

I tend to dislike attempts to sacrifice keystrokes at the expense of clarity. I've been burned too many times by such things. Since I generally work by the task, not by the hour, such things cost me real money.