And you can't slit your wrists with it.

Wikipedia sez: Occam's Razor is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar, William of Ockham. It forms the basis of thodological reductionism, also called the principle of parsimony or law of economy.

In its simplest form, Occam's Razor states that one should make no more assumptions than needed. Put into everyday language, it says, Numquam ponendo est pluritas sine necessitate, [Latin] which translates to:

Multiples should never be used if not necessary
or
"Shave off" (omit) unnecessary entities in explanations

But the more commonly used translations are:

Given two equally predictive theories, choose the simpler, and the simplest answer is usually the correct answer.

For example, after a storm you notice that a tree has fallen. Based on the evidence of the storm and the fallen tree, a reasonable hypothesis would be that the storm blew down the tree — a hypothesis that requires you to suspend your disbelief very little, as there exist strong logical connections binding what you already know to this solution (seeing and hearing storms does indeed tend to indicate the existence of storms; storms are more than capable of felling trees). A rival hypothesis claiming that the tree was knocked over by marauding 200-metre tall space aliens requires several additional assumptions, with various logical weaknesses resulting from inconsistencies with what is already known (concerning the very existence of aliens, their ability and desire to travel interstellar distances, their ability and desire to (un-)intentionally knock down trees and the alien biology that allows them to be 200 metres tall in terrestrial gravity), and is therefore less preferred.

The principle of Occam's Razor has inspired numerous expressions including: "parsimony of postulates", the "principle of simplicity", the "KISS principle" (Keep It Simple, Stupid), and in some medical schools, "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras".

I have recently been reminded of this principle by dear friend Linda, who appreciates the intricacies of my creative mind when it comes to storytelling, but thinks I will find blessed sanity if I apply this maxim more often in my daily affairs.

It's just that, sometimes I know it's aliens and zebras.