Another technique for overcoming abstraction involves the replacement of expected words with unexpected words in the form of a metaphor. When you use a fresh metaphor, you pull a rabbit out of the language hat. A listener’s first reaction is apt to be, “Wait a minute; words are not rabbits, and language is not a hat.” But when a metaphor works, the next reaction is, “Ah, I see what she means!” Good metaphors may reveal unexpected similarities in dramatic ways. They substitute concrete words for abstractions and bring a subject into focus.
For these reasons, metaphors are perhaps our most useful and versatile language tool. They help to both inform and persuade, as Jesse Jackson’s metaphor of the quilt demonstrated, and they also work well in speeches of celebration. When Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke in Memphis the night before he was assassinated, he talked of the “spiritual journey” that his listeners had traveled. He said that he had climbed the mountain ahead of them—that he had “seen the Promised Land.” These metaphors of the journey, the mountain, and the view of the land beyond lifted his listeners and allowed them to share his vision, just as he had earlier invited them to share his “dream” in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. More than just being a vivid way of communicating, such metaphors reveal the speaker’s soul.
Because metaphors can be so powerful, you should select them carefully and use them with restraint. Mixing metaphors, combining images that don’t fit well together, can confuse listeners and even create an inappropriate comic effect. The speaker who intoned, “Let us march forward into the seas of prosperity,” got a laugh he didn’t want and hadn’t intended. Finally, avoid trite similes and metaphors, such as “his idea is as dead as a doornail,”“she has the courage of a lion,” or “our team is on an emotional roller coaster.” Overuse has dimmed these comparisons until people are no longer affected by them. Such cliches can damage your ethos because tired comparisons can suggest a dull mind.