On the order of impact, personal experience beats words by a long shot, but words are a still a powerful way to convey the meaning from out of our experiences. I recently established that a young American web developer I was talking to about emmigrating to New Zealand had a sense of humour - he burst out laughing when I used the phrase "has a personality of a paper bag" in conversation.
Well done, my recently acquired American friend - you have done several things right. First you bothered to phone me from the USA to ask my opinion on job prospects and immigration matters. Secondly you make me feel good by laughing at something I say, and thirdly, you want to emmigrate to New Zealand. Good move! Apart from my belief that it is my God-given duty to encourage and support any American that wants to get out of their rat-race, it's obviously good for New Zealand because they are clearly the smarter ones.
. . . personality of a paper bag!
As a salesman, author and mentor/teacher I live and die by my use of words. I try to choose words carefully in speech and also in writing. We've lost a couple of clients recently because in part I've said or done something that caused them offence in days or months, sometimes years gone by. While I'm usually pretty good at helping people and they usually recognise my efforts, you just can't please some people, and it usually all comes back to misunderstanding or miscommunication - basically the use or misuse of words.I enjoy capturing little turns of phrase that capture the reader's attention. The phrase that "someone has the personality of a paper bag" gets us chuckling or smiling at least. The natural and unforced alliteration with three "P's" (Yes, three P's - Personality . . . Pa - Per) also makes it sound sweet to listen to. The comparison of an inanimate object with someone's personality, (something normally so emotionally charged) is a kind of shock to the system and snaps to our attention.
I use the phrase "" in the opening Chapter of my book Lipstick on a Pig when I discuss the stereotypical computer salesman from a decade or so ago:
The stereotypical experience in those days was to walk into a computer shop and be greeted by a greasy long-haired teenage geek with two-inch thick glasses and the personality of a paper-bag.Ahh what a word-picture!
My book title too, is another example of a clever combination of words. Who on earth would think to put lipstick onto a pig? I first heard the phrase "Lipstick on a Pig" a couple of years ago when Dick Brunton shared it in relation to authenticity in marketing - one of his hot-buttons. I knew instantly that this was the title I was looking for to the book I was writing at the time. These combinations of words convey meaning in excess of their raw value and have a multiplying effect on the recipient.
In teaching sales techniques to staff, I sometimes use an example of an lovely interaction with a client of mine. He stood at the door of my office and was stunned when I asked him what discount he wanted off his website. They guy was already committed to purchasing; he had agreed in principle and appeared very happy with our offering and thought it was a joke at first. "No, I'm deadly serious", I said. "What discount would you like?"
. . . a smile on your dial!
They guy was in total shock and once he came to the realisation that I was serious asked me why I asked him. "It is simple", I replied. "I just want you to walk out of my office with a Smile on your Dial!" For the record, he suggested some smallish discount which I happily gave him and he phoned me later in the day chuckling about how I had made his day, and that he REALLY DID walk out of my office with a smile on his dial.The lesson in a sales sense is that we made the guy feel special, but in a linguistic sense, he had captured the phrase "Smile on your dial" and will always remember us (or me) as the guy who put a "smile on his dial". The same impact happened when speaking to my American friend, when I used the phrase the "personality of a paper bag". They guy won't forget me or our conversation unless he gets Alzheimer's.
A few years back when the Women's
A web developer I know talked to me recently about his desire to achieve visual splendour in his work! What lovely words they are!
For just a little extra effort, we can all spice up our language and make memories for others.
Tagwords: words, literary splendour
