> For example, newer BSDs (and perhaps GNU even more so) seem to regard
> typing longer paths as enjoyable: /usr/man -> /usr/share/man,
> /usr/pub/ascii -> /usr/share/misc/ascii...

I don't know of anyone (possibly aside from you) who thinks those
changes were made because of the enjoyment they bring to people typing
them.  And as for the first of your examples - how often do you type
that path (whatever it may be on your flavour of Unix), anyway?

If you want to shorten paths, consider doing away with /usr (which has
long outlived its original purpose, several times over) before you
consider removing the "share" from "/usr/share" (which arose for good
reasons involving servers serving heterogenous client populations).

/~\ The ASCII				der Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
 X  Against HTML	       mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca
/ \ Email!	     7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39  4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B