Don’t Be Like Flynn or Like a Sore Thumb

No one likes being around someone who “drinks like a fish” and “sweats like a pig”, Richard Lederer observes in a humor piece reprinted in my Mensa Bulletin. “Avoid cliché’s like the plague,” is Lederer’s tongue-in-cheek advice to content writers. One of the ironies of language is that vivid comparisons become clichés precisely because they express an idea so well, the author admits.  Later, though, these “like” phrases become hackneyed and lifeless, turning your calls to action and reader engagement into big “yawns”. In another book I found, Powerful Writing Skills, author Richard Anderson agrees with Lederer that one sure-fire way to bore readers is using clichés, which he feels numb readers’ senses.

As content writers at Say It For You, we know we must be constantly on the prowl for words and expressions that help online readers feel a connection with our clients’ businesses and professional practices. And sometimes, a familiar comparison can help readers understand the latest development in the field, or better comprehend the benefit of a product or service being offered. “Snowclones”, a form of cliché mentioned in The Book of Random Oddities, can be used to reinforce the benefits of an activity (“Knitting is the new yoga.”).

“Like” clichés provide sardonic and funny answers to the question “compared to what?”, and that question is one it’s crucial for content writers to address. That’s particularly true in citing numbers. Real numbers dispel false impressions people have about an industry and can be used to demonstrate the extent of a problem before you set about showing how you help solve that problem. However, numbers, when used in content marketing, tend to be tricky business. For every statistic about the company or about one of its products or services, even with the addition of comparisons, content writers must be careful to address every reader’s unspoken question – So, is that good for me (compared to what I am doing or using now)?

Comparison represents just one of many tools we content writers can use to get the point across, making the word “like” just about unavoidable “Like is a preposition you can’t refuse in our language,” Lederer observes.  But,  the author warns, use that word with caution. After all, you wouldn’t want your content to go over “like a lead balloon”!