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Concrete words and vivid imagery engage audience members’ senses and encourage involvement. Concrete language is specific, tangible, and definite. Words such as “mountain,” “spoon,” “dark,” and “heavy” describe things we can physically sense (see, hear, taste, smell, and touch). In contrast, abstract language is general or nonspecific, leaving meaning open to interpretation. Abstract words, such as “peace,” “freedom,” and “love,” are purely conceptual; they have no physical reference. Politicians use abstract language to appeal to mass audiences, or to be noncommittal: “We strive for peace.” In most speaking situations, however, listeners will appreciate concrete nouns and verbs.
Experiment with concrete imagery to clarify key speech points. Trade weak and mundane verbs with those that are strong and colorful. Rather than “walk,” you can say “saunter”; in place of “look,” use “gaze.”
Offer Vivid Imagery
Imagery is concrete language that brings into play the senses of smell, taste, sight, hearing, and touch to paint mental pictures. Speeches containing ample imagery elicit more positive responses than those that do not.5
Create vivid images by modifying nouns with descriptive adjectives. President Franklin D. Roosevelt used this technique when he portrayed the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor as “the dark hour,”6 conveying with one simple adjective the gravity of the attack.
Use Figures of Speech
Figures of speech, including similes, metaphors, and analogies, make striking comparisons between the unfamiliar and the known, allowing listeners to more quickly grasp meaning. A simile explicitly compares one thing to another, using like or as: “He works like a dog,” and “The old woman’s hands were as soft as a baby’s.” A metaphor also compares two things, but does so by describing one thing as actually being the other: “Time is a thief.”
An analogy is simply an extended metaphor or simile that compares an unfamiliar concept or process to a more familiar one. Analogies help emphasize or explain key ideas or processes to an audience. For example, note how African American minister Phil Wilson used metaphoric language when he preached to his congregation in Los Angeles about the dangers of AIDS:
Our house is on fire! The fire truck arrives, but we won’t come out, because we’re afraid the folks from next door will see that we’re in that burning house. AIDS is a fire raging in our community and it’s out of control!7
As useful as analogies are, they can be misleading if used carelessly—as they often are. A weak or faulty analogy is an inaccurate or misleading comparison suggesting that because two things are similar in some ways, they are necessarily similar in others. (See Chapter 24 for a discussion of other logical fallacies.)
Avoid Clichés and Mixed Metaphors
Try not to use tired metaphors and similes, known as clichés. A cliché is a predictable and stale comparison such as “sold like hotcakes” (a clichéd simile), “pearly white teeth” (a clichéd metaphor). Beware, too, of mixed metaphors, those that juxtapose unlike images or expressions: for example, “burning the midnight oil at both ends” incorrectly joins two (clichéd) expressions “burning the midnight oil” and “burning the candle at both ends.”