Don't fall into these analogy traps

Some analogies do more harm than good.

I once tried to describe how a transistor worked using PB&J as my analogy…

It didn’t go over well.

This 7-day course is to get you going so that your batting average improves, but you won’t get a home run every single time.

Here are three types of analogies that you want to avoid lest you end up striking out and losing your audience completely.

Overstretched and misaligned

Analogies are like farts.

Try too hard, and you’ll crap your pants.

Yes, I repurposed that analogy as it is a classic. It’s simple, funny, and mildly inappropriate (like me).

Another way to put it, they’re like paper clips. Belaboring one and extending it in an attempt to explain a concept without fully understanding the limitations will eventually cause it to break.

And yes, that was an example of a mildly misaligned analogy. Bending a paper clip repeatedly does eventually cause it to become useless. However, the mechanism doesn’t quite work on every level for the message.

At the same time, its failure in this respect is exactly the point so…

Here are a few other examples:

• a company is like a sports team (but is it really?)

• life is like a box of chocolates (does it?)

• sometimes you gotta make like a tree and get outta here (I couldn’t resist)

Actually, I’d say that last one goes nicely into the next example as well…

Obscure and confusing

If you’re a long-time reader of this newsletter, then you already know that I have a penchant for references to nerdcore, movies, and all manner of obscurity in the parenting and engineering world.

The last example from the previous section is one such example as it is from “Back to the Future”. It’s readily understood for my target audience (Millennials who are 9-5 parents and aspiring content creators), but beyond this sphere, younger audiences may completely miss the point.

If you don’t know who you’re writing to, analogies can be obscure and confusing to them.

Archaic technology (anything analog), OG anime and manga series, 80s cultural references, these are just a few areas that people born after 9/11 may have a harder time understanding if you use them to get a message across.

Here are some examples not to use for your kids:

• it was like he was connecting to AOL the first time when I was tutoring him

• that dude switched sides like Ranma Saotome at a swim meet

• sometimes you gotta cross the streams to make things happen

That reminds me of the scene from the recently concluded “Superman & Lois” series when one of Clark’s sons understands the Kessel Run reference while the other one misses it completely.

You get the idea.

Let’s move on to the last bad analogy type.

Overused and cliché

A few decades ago, I was at a crossroads between applying for medical school or applying for graduate school…

To maximize the number of successful applicants, Duke University had an internal interview process to either encourage or discourage students interested in pursuing the medical route. Part of it was writing an essay explaining why you wanted to go to medical school.

Needless to say that I did about as well as a SpaceX rocket.

I used an analogy as my opening statement: “Life’s a journey, not a destination.”

And yes, I listened to a lot of Aerosmith back in the day. The problem with that analogy is that it’s rather cliché. I understand its meaning now, but I thought it meant something entirely different at 22.

The interviewer wasted no time shredding my argument for using that statement as my framework for justifying my wish to become a doctor. In a way, she saved me from a lifetime of hardship for all the wrong reasons (and I lived very much in that mindset at the time). I thought the analogy was a great way to present my argument that a lucrative career that helped others was my aspiration.

Turns out it was horrible, overused by many other would-be doctors, and a red flag that they used to screen out students who wouldn’t make it.

So I went with graduate school, much to the dismay of my parents.

It’s ok. I have the title now. I’m just not a “real” doctor.

I’m more Dr. Who, less Dr. House.

Avoid the most commonly used analogies that border on parody. A good rule of thumb is that if you have to ask if it’s cliché, it most likely is.

Whew, there ya go!

To recap, you won’t hit it out of the park every single time, but being aware of these three types will definitely go a long way towards improving your analogy game:

1. the overstretched analogy

2. the confusing analogy

3. the cliché analogy

Strong analogies are clear, relevant, and fresh. They slap, aren’t mid, and skibidi hard to understand (there ya go, Gen Alpha).

Know your target audience. The more detailed you can be about the reader you want to reach, the less likely you’ll use an analogy that falls into one or more of these categories.

In the next and final issue, I’ll share a few tips to keep you going down this path of mastery.