Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Our vocabulary is a tool...






Hi, my name is Janet and I’m a metaphor addict.  The thing is, I have no intention of reforming.  Those things work like ants plundering a picnic (see?).

 

I spend a lot of my time with clients giving instructions.  Bend this, lift that, and so on.  But I don’t just care about the rude outline of the motion; I want to get all the details in the picture (it is happening again…).  Some of us know a lot about anatomy and I can say things like, “Engage your adductors” and get results, but some folks have no idea what I mean by that, so I say things like “Squeeze a beach ball between your thighs.”

 

“You are one of those drinking bird toys.”  “Pull a sheet of paper apart under your feet.”  “Spread your abs out like a rubber band.”  We are people who live by analogy and a lot of what I do is finding the one that speaks to the person in front of me at any given time.

 

I joke all the time about my invisible tool kit.  Perhaps the most useful of those invisible tools is words.

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