Steve Rubel from
MicroPersuasion
posted
an interesting Twitter the other night about metaphors:
Sports offers great metaphors for
business.
This one has been nagging me. I ask you: is it true?
If you're reading this post when it went live, I'm likely having dinner in
Croatia. If I started dropping sports metaphors like, "touch all the bases," "we
need to focus on blocking and tackling," or "skate to where the puck will be,"
they'd likely have no idea what I'm talking about. Their English may be great,
but they didn't grow up with metaphors pulled from MBL, NFL, or the NHL.
But you don't have to go to Croatia to watch metaphors like the above flop. Try
them on immigrants, or non-televised sports fanatics.
Here is another perspective. Do you know the sports behind the metaphors below:
"Keep kickin' and stickin'."
"Don't hit the wall."
"Jump on his wheel."
All are valid sports metaphors, but don't come from major American professional
sports. My college teammates would know exactly what I was talking about if I
dropped metaphors like that in a work meeting, but I'd likely lose a lot of the
room since not everyone follows cross country skiing, long distance running, and
cycling.
The lesson: know your audience, and choose appropriate metaphors.
