Long and the short of it

The long and the short of it means the totality or summation of something or other. Shakespeare used the expression in The Merry Wives of Windsor Act II, Scene II, although he used the original transposed version, “This is the short and the long of it.” This transposed usage first appeared c. 1500, so Shakespeare did not coin it. It was eventually replaced by the current version only towards the end of the 17th century.