Issue 108 – February 2022
A ‘Post-it note’ for the brain + more analogies
“Think of an analogy as a gift to your readers that helps explain a complex process or concept with familiar, relatable specifics.” – Ann Handley
Does “corporate” writing need to be so “corporate”?
Of course not. Steve Crescenzo thinks it gets that way when people write for the approver, not the reader. The employee communications consultant advises taking the “corporate” out of corporate comms and replacing it with “creative.” One way to do that is by using analogies, especially when explaining complicated topics.
“Think of an analogy as a gift to your readers that helps explain a complex process or concept with familiar, relatable specifics,” says marketer and writer Ann Handley. (Notice that “as a gift” is itself an analogy.)
Analogies can be similes, showing how two things are alike using “like” or “as” (“light as a feather”). Metaphors do the same without using “like” or “as” (“They were birds of a feather”).
What if you wanted to explain the workings of the brain, for instance? Not many of us are neurologists, but we don’t need to be to understand this:
When our brains detect an emotionally charged event, our amygdala releases dopamine into the system that aids in memory and info processing. “You could say it creates a Post-it note that reads, ‘Remember this,’ [biologist John Medina] says.”
Here are more terrific analogies I’ve collected:
“The nomads will pack up camp and return to their real home – the road – moving like blood cells through the veins of the country.” – Jessica Bruder in Nomadland
Especially with texting, “the so-called rules of punctuation are not preserved, lifeless, as if in amber.” – Max Harrison-Caldwell in The New York Times
“For this crew, [Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s] Blue Origin had made spaceflight feel almost as smooth as same-day shipping.” – Marina Koren in The Atlantic
“[M]aybe by looking for more roles as rich and complex as June Carter Cash she was essentially looking for polar bears in Los Angeles. They simply weren’t there.” – Ann Patchett in Nieman Storyboard
“Part of the issue with spurring action, experts say, is that climate change is not so much like falling off a cliff – immediate and painful – as like a slow-motion train wreck.” – Alex Boyd in the Toronto Star
"It was as if her well-stocked verbal closets were always in perfect order; in a split second, she is able to lay her hand on whatever phrase she needs while the rest of us grope about on untidy shelves." –Bud Hopkins in Missing Time (thanks to my friend Les Potter for sharing this one!)
“The words came to her then as clear as birdsong at dawn.” – Kate Morton, The Clockmaker’s Daughter
What other great analogies have you seen? I’d love to know!
Thank you to the readers who shared some other ideas for the “before & after” example in my January newsletter:
Roger Morier says, “Minor suggestion. I would have gotten straight to the point earlier, i.e., by adding a couple of sentences after the first para. For example: ‘NAV Canada wants to make the skies around Pearson cleaner, greener, and quieter. We're sure you do, too. That's why we'll be holding public consultations for you to learn about and comment on what we're planning. First, some background information.’ Then I would have picked up your second para ‘To recover from the pandemic...’”
Paul Schwarz says, “Your approach to the text made perfect sense...My one quibble is if the action point is to promote feedback from airport visitors, the feedback request and mechanism should be much earlier in the presentation. At the end of that second paragraph, I say continue the sentence with ‘and we want your input on the effectiveness of these improvement efforts. To do this, we’re gathering comments from you on proposed changes before they’re introduced.’“
Related reading:
Metaphors and your brain, by Science World
Steve Crescenzo’s Seven Deadly Sins of Employee Communications
Recently in the Red Jacket Diaries:
Snowboarder jargon and insider language at the Olympics, decoded
ICYMI, Jan. edition: Writing tips, words and more links you might have missed
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