An Analogy

[Scribbly]

The analogy has become a map for a land that doesn't exist. It is a torch without a lightbulb. A ship without a compass. Where it used to illuminate our understanding as the sun breaking through the clouds of ignorance, now it limps on like a dog with three legs; a car with a punctured tire that everyone is too polite to get out of. Well, now we have to change that tire.

Of course, a language without analogy is like a clock without hands. Where applicable, they can be a magnifying glass to bring detail into focus. You need that focus; there's no denying that. Without focus, the team doesn't know where it is going. They can't get the ball in the back of the net if they are playing with the wrong rules. When it gets out of hand, though, you're all talking double dutch. A bad analogy is like a roadblock made of marshmallow; spongy, but when it breaks it all gets sticky and everyone is left asking what the fuck you are talking about.

(This post inspired by the continual insistence of people who comment on news stories to describe complicated economics in terms of ships, teams, games, households, tools and circuses)

[Triple Zero]

A clock without hands is like a Clunt without feet, IMO.