Mark Twain had it right when he said: “The difference between a word and the right word is the difference between a lightening bug and lightning.” We saw a vivid example of that difference in the news recently and it involved a metaphor.
The Challenge
No doubt you are aware of last week’s four-point conspiracy indictment vs. former President Trump handed down by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
What is of particular interest to readers of TMM is the metaphor Smith ultimately chose to characterize the target [the Federal government function] of the conspiracies.
Smith needed a word that had to meet at least three criteria to describe the government function under attack. It needed to
- Be intelligible to the average American (no mumbo jumbo legalese)
- Be instantly, easily, and universally understood – and – perhaps most important,
- Capture the scope, danger, and gravity of the attack
Smith could have used adjectives like “basic, underlying, key, critical, principal, essential, the number one, foundational, etc.” Any of those would have met the first two criteria cited above, but definitely not the third. For that, he needed something with more impact.
He needed a metaphor.
The Solution
He chose “bedrock.”
Page 2 of the 45 page indictment ultimately read:
Each of these conspiracies*—which built on the widespread mistrust the Defendant was creating through pervasive and destabilizing lies about election fraud –targeted a bedrock function of the United States Federal government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election (the “federal government function”).
The “Bedrock” metaphor is brilliant.
1.It is intelligible to the average American
2.It is instantly, easily, and universally understood, and
3. It has a visual and emotionally resonant power that totally captures the seriousness of the charges
The “bedrock” metaphor [unlike the other descriptive choices] evokes many images and feelings, e.g., a sense of depth below which you cannot go; solidity; strength; and something so serious, which if destroyed (targeted) would lead to dire consequences.
Smith’s “bedrock” is Twain’s “lightning word.”
Create Lightning
What you do is likely not as consequential for the county as what is playing out legally and politically in the news today. However, what you do in your business is certainly important to your success. That success is definitely affected by the language choices you make.
Your words can become just “blah, blah, blah” (lightening bugs) to your listeners, or, they
can cause a lightning flash of understanding that generates a desired response.
What metaphors can you create
- To make what you offer more easily and instantly understood?
- To characterize your products or services?
- To frame how people should be thinking of the value you offer?
The right metaphor can make the “difference between a lightening bug and lightning” to your bottom-line.
Anne Miller
Make What You Say Pay! – with Metaphors
Photo by Michał Mancewicz on Unsplash
P.S. *You can read the whole indictment at https://tinyurl.com/2p95snar
*The four conspiracies are
- To defraud the United States
- To obstruct an official proceeding
- Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding
- Conspiracy against rights
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