I’m a sucker for an alliterative list.

When a client asked me to write a piece on the 28 languages now available on her company’s technology, I wrote this lead:

“Whether you speak Chinese or Czech, Korean or Catalan, Finnish or French, Tetra radios speak your language.”

Got a list? Why not alliterate a little?

“A spoonful of alliteration helps the medicine go down,” write Chip Heath and Dan Heath in Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.

It helps the listings go down, too.

Siddhartha Mukherjee uses this approach to communicate a list of side effects in The Emperor of All Maladies:

“The acute, short-term effects of nitrogen mustard — the respiratory complications, the burnt skin, the blisters, the blindness — were so amply monstrous that its long-term effects were overlooked.”

Help readers remember. In A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink writes that there are three reasons we’re moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age:

“Abundance, Asia, Automation”

Alliterating a short list like this serves as a mnemonic: It makes the list easier to remember, especially for listeners at TED conferences, where Pink is a frequent speaker.

“Alliterative words … give listeners’ and readers’ minds an auditory hook on which to hang a memory,” writes Sam Horn, president of Action Seminars/Consulting, “Alliterating the key words tickles our intellect and makes ideas easier to grasp and remember.”

Communicate range. Alliteration works for a range as well as a list.

In Innocent, Scott Turow writes:

“But even by the standards of somebody whose emotional temperature usually ranges from blah to blue, I’ve been in a bad way awaiting today.”

I alliterate both a range and a list in my bio:

“Ann’s workshops take her from Hollywood to Helsinki, helping communicators in organizations like NASA, Nike and Nokia polish their skills and find new inspiration for their work.”

Alliterate a list today. Have a long, random list to alliterate? Use The Alphabetizer to quickly sort your list into alphabetical order.

How can you use alliteration to make your language more lyrical?

Play with your words

Want to master the art of making your copy more creative and engaging through wordplay?

• Get it off your desk: Invite Ann’s team to write creative copy for your organization.
• Polish staff skills: Bring Ann to your organization for a Make Your Copy More Creative workshop.
• Boost your own abilities: Work with Ann to polish your creative writing skills with one-on-one writing coaching. And find out about Ann’s next creative writing webinar.
• Join the club: Get the whole story in the latest issue of Rev Up Readership. And find dozens of tipsheets on playing with your words at RevUpReadership.com.
• Learn more: Get free writing tips every month when you subscribe to our e-zine.

“The names of ancient illnesses are condensed stories in their own right. Typhus, a stormy disease, with erratic, vaporous fevers, arose from the Greek tuphon, the father of winds — a word that also gives rise to the modern typhoon. Influenza emerged from the Latin influentia because medieval doctors imagined that the cyclical epidemics of flu were influenced by stars and planets revolving toward and away from the earth. Tuberculosis coagulated out of the Latin tuber, referring to the swollen lumps of glands that looked like small vegetables. Lymphatic tuberculosis, TB of the lymph glands, was called scrofula, from the Latin word for ‘piglet,’ evoking the rather morbid image of a chain of swollen glands arranged in a line like a group of suckling pigs.”

— Siddhartha Mukherjee, author, The Emperor of All Maladies

The history of ideas is reflected in language. So if you aim to explain ideas, one way is to explain language. That’s why etymology — the study of the origins of words — is such an effective form of wordplay.

EAT YOUR WORDS 'Cancer' comes from the Greek karkinos, or crab. What can etymology explain about your topic?

Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer is packed with etymological explanations. Immerse yourself in his examples to find inspiration for your own exploration of word origins. Here are three examples to get you started:

“It was in the time of Hippocrates, around 400 BC, that a word for cancer first appeared in the medical literature: karkinos, from the Greek word for ‘crab.’ The tumor, with its clutch of swollen blood vessels around it, reminded Hippocrates of a crab dug in the sand with its legs spread in a circle. The image was peculiar (few cancers truly resemble crabs), but also vivid. Later writers, both doctors and patients, added embellishments. For some, the hardened, matted surface of the tumor was reminiscent of the tough carapace of a crab’s body. Others felt a crab moving under the flesh as the disease spread stealthily throughout the body. For yet others, the sudden stab of pain produced by the disease was like being caught in the grip of a crab’s pincers.”

“Palliative care, the branch of medicine that focuses on symptom relief and comfort, had been perceived as the antimatter of cancer therapy, the negative to its positive, an admission of failure to its rhetoric of success. The word palliate comes from the Latin palliare, ‘to cloak’ — and providing pain relief was perceived as cloaking the essence of the illness, smothering symptoms rather than attacking disease.”

“Freireich and Frei were now ready to take their pivotal and intuitive leap into the abyss. The next regimen they would try would be a combination of all four drugs: vincristine, amethopterin, mercaptopurine, and prednisone. The regimen would be known by a new acronym, with each letter standing for one of the drugs: VAMP. The name had many intended and unintended resonances. Vamp is a word that means to improvise or patch up, to cobble something together from bits and pieces that might crumble apart any second. It can mean a seductress — one who promises but does not deliver. It also refers to the front of a boot, the part that carries the full brunt of force during a kick.”

Use etymology to explain your ideas

Etymology, by the way, is derived from the Greek word “etymon,” meaning “a sense” and “logos,” meaning “word.” Etymology, in other words, is the study of the origins, development and meaning of a word.

How could you take a tip from Mukherjee and use etymology to explain your complex concepts?

Learn how to conduct etymological research.

Play with your words

Want to master the art of making your copy more creative and engaging through wordplay?

• Get it off your desk: Invite Ann’s team to write creative copy for your organization.
• Polish staff skills: Bring Ann to your organization for a  Make Your Copy More Creative workshop.
• Boost your own abilities: Work with Ann to polish your creative writing skills with one-on-one writing coaching. And find out about Ann’s next creative writing webinar.
• Join the club: Get the whole story in the latest issue of Rev Up Readership. And find dozens of tipsheets on playing with your words at RevUpReadership.com.
• Learn more: Get free writing tips every month when you subscribe to our e-zine.

My husband used to leave the room when I turned on “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” Then he’d stand behind his chair in the living room while I watched. Finally he sat down.

'EYE' IT, TRY IT, BUY IT: A rhyming triad is a shorter, sweeter, more engaging way to make your point.

When I saw him spray, delay and walk away, I knew he was hooked.

“Spray, delay and walk away” is a mnemonic Kyan Douglas used to teach men to use aftershave. Instead of dousing yourself in Dolce & Gabbana Pour Homme, he suggested, spritz a little in the air, wait a moment, then step through whatever’s left.

But there’s a shorter, sweeter, more engaging way to express that idea:

“Spray, delay and walk away.”

Double your rhetorical power

“Spray, delay and walk away” uses two rhetorical devices: rhyme and triad. That doubles your rhetorical power, making your message even more eloquent, attention getting and memorable.

That’s the approach Lyris used in this slogan for a webinar on social media and email marketing:

“Simplify, unify, ROI.”

Chevrolet used this rhyming triad:

“Eye it, try it, buy it.”

And Wired used a trio of rhyming words to name its department on what’s in and out in technology:

EXPIRED, TIRED & WIRED: A rhyming triad's a great way to organize information.

How can you use a trio of rhyming words to make your message short, sweet and neat?

Play with your words

Want to master the art of making your copy more creative and engaging through wordplay?

• Rev Up Readership members: Read the whole article.
• Invite Ann’s team in to handle a special writing project.
• Bring Ann to your organization for a “Make Your Copy More Creative” workshop.
• Work with Ann to make your copy more creative in one-on-one writing coaching sessions.
• Get dozens of tipsheets on playing with your words at RevUpReadership.com.
• Find Ann’s out about Ann’s next creative writing webinar.
• Subscribe to our free writing tips e-zine.

They might have seen it coming.

STORMY WEATHER: Before you adopt a slogan, think through what the opposition might do with it.

Nope, not BP of the Gulf Coast oil spill. But Sarah Palin, Michael Steele and other supporters of increased domestic oil drilling of their slogan “Drill, baby, drill.”

Don’t get me wrong. “Drill, baby, drill” is actually a fabulous slogan.

“Slogans are fabulous when they use few words (two! one used twice) to unite and signify a tribe,” writes Seth Godin, author of Linchpin.

Plus, rhymes and other “fluent” words and phrases engage people. And strong verbs, like “drill,” paint pictures in readers’ minds and convey a can-do, action-oriented mindset.

“Support it or not,” Godin writes, “you have to agree that it was a great slogan. (Until it wasn’t.)”

But did nobody consider how the opposition might use this phrase?

Among the rhymes for “drill,” according to Wylie Communications Inc.’s chief verse officer RhymeZone.com, are:

• Bill
• Fill
• Grill
• Ill
• Kill
• Pill
• Shrill

And, of course, “spill.”

Before you launch your fabulous new slogan, run it by your lawyers — then run it through RhymeZone.

Play with your words

Want to master the art of making your copy more creative and engaging through wordplay?

• Invite Ann’s team in to handle a special writing project.
• Bring Ann to your organization for a “Make Your Copy More Creative” workshop.
• Work with Ann to make your copy more creative in one-on-one writing coaching sessions.
• Get dozens of tipsheets on playing with your words at RevUpReadership.com.
• Find Ann’s out about Ann’s next creative writing webinar.
• Subscribe to our free writing tips e-zine.

A few years ago, my nephew Evan — aka one of the five most adorable boys in the world — was attending Catholic preschool.

BLAH BLAH BLAH: "Clichés are a sign of a mind at rest," says author Sol Stein. Wake up your writing — and your reader — by reinventing clichés.

It was his introduction to Jesus and heaven, and he’d been busy processing how all of this applied to his own life. When his uncle died, he wondered aloud when Jesus was going to finish fixing Uncle Carl and send him home.

When he and I sat down for a visit a few months after school started, he asked, “Aunt Ann, why is your hair white?”I answered the way I answer all the 4-year-olds who ask that question: “I don’t know, Evan. Why do you think my hair is white?”

“Because you’re going to visit Jesus?”
he ventured.

Thankfully, Evan’s guestimate has been wrong to date. But it’s not the first interesting response I’ve received about my loopy hair since it started turning white when I was 16. And since I belatedly made rock star stylist Mary Jane Van de Castle CEO of my head, may hair has been getting longer and kookier.

My sister, Lynn — the one who inherited all the good judgment in my family — has started urgently counseling headbands. Then last month, at a spa, a woman asked a question similar to my nephew’s, though less gracious:

“What’s that on your head?” she asked.
“A Chia Pet?”

Though I couldn’t take that as a compliment, I did appreciate her excellent use of analogy.

It goes without saying that my next stop was the headband store. When I showed my husband my new purchases, he said: “How nice. A Chia-management solution.”

“Darling,” I said, lovingly, “I believe you’ve just resurrected a cliché.”

What’s your least favorite cliché or buzz phrase? How can you revive that cliché to turn it into wordplay? Try:

• Reversing, combining or flipping overused expressions
• Riffing off of worn-out sayings
• Twisting tired turns of phrase

Play with your words

Want to master the art of making your copy more creative and engaging through wordplay?

• Get it off your desk: Invite Ann’s team to write creative copy for your organization.
• Polish staff skills: Bring Ann to your organization for a  Make Your Copy More Creative workshop.
• Boost your own abilities: Work with Ann to polish your creative writing skills with one-on-one writing coaching. And find out about Ann’s next creative writing webinar.
• Join the club: Get the whole story in the latest issue of Rev Up Readership. And find dozens of tipsheets on playing with your words at RevUpReadership.com.
• Learn more: Get free writing tips every month when you subscribe to our e-zine.

Goldman Sachs. Volcanic ash. GM bailout loan paybacks.

They’re not usually the stuff that poetry is made of.

Yet American Public Media’s Marketplace reporter, Bill Radke, manages to sum up each day’s news in rhymed verse in Marketplace Minute.

Take this little ditty, from April 23:

“Goldman Sachs is in trouble
“for betting against the housing bubble,
“while they were selling opposite bets
“to clients who now have some major regrets.”

And if that’s not enough, “This American Life” commissioned a Broadway song to help explain a complicated financial scheme that, the producers say, “parallels quite closely a Mel Brooks musical.”

I’m inspired. Could you summarize the day’s news, a big issue or maybe the VP’s speech in verse?

Play with your words

Want to master the art of making your copy more creative and engaging through wordplay?

• Get it off your desk: Invite Ann’s team to write creative copy for your organization.
• Polish staff skills: Bring Ann to your organization for a  Make Your Copy More Creative workshop.
• Boost your own abilities: Work with Ann to polish your creative writing skills with one-on-one writing coaching. And find out about Ann’s next creative writing webinar.
• Join the club: Get the whole story in the latest issue of Rev Up Readership. And find dozens of tipsheets on playing with your words at RevUpReadership.com.
• Learn more: Get free writing tips every month when you subscribe to our e-zine.

About Ann Wylie

Ann Wylie is president of Wylie Communications Inc., a training, writing and consulting firm. She works with communicators who want to reach more readers and with organizations that want to get the word out. Wylie is the author of RevUpReadership.com, a toolbox for writers, and Wylie’s Writing Tips, a free e-zine. She has earned more than 60 awards, including two IABC Gold Quills, for her work.

Copyright © 2011 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.

But acronyms can also make your copy easier to read and remember, writes Jack Napoli, if you use them to group your key ideas “into nuggets of distinction.”

MARC, for instance, is easier to remember than Mid-America Regional Council. It’s also easier to remember than an acronym that doesn’t spell out a pronounceable word — Midwestern Regional Council, or MRC, for instance.

“Can the audience recall your message 2 minutes, 2 hours, 2 days, 2 weeks or 2 martinis later?” Napoli asks. To help your audience members, he suggests keeping your acronyms:

• Short: three to six characters long
• Meaningful: Make sure the acronym compliments the subject matter.
• Repeatable: easy to say and remember

Napoli sells the idea of using acronyms to create sticky messages in his excellent post, but he doesn’t offer any how-to’s. Here’s one approach for turning a list into a mnemonic device to help readers remember your key points:

• List the words you want to include. You might need to find potential substitutes.
• Type the first letter of each word into the online anagram server box.
• Click “get anagrams.”

The result: a meaningful acronym that helps readers codify and remember your big ideas.

Play with your words

Want to master the art of making your copy more creative and engaging through wordplay?

• Get it off your desk: Invite Ann’s team to write creative copy for your organization.
• Polish staff skills: Bring Ann to your organization for a  Make Your Copy More Creative workshop.
• Boost your own abilities: Work with Ann to polish your creative writing skills with one-on-one writing coaching. And find out about Ann’s next creative writing webinar.
• Join the club: Get the whole story in the latest issue of Rev Up Readership. And find dozens of tipsheets on playing with your words at RevUpReadership.com.
• Learn more: Get free writing tips every month when you subscribe to our e-zine.

About Ann Wylie

Ann Wylie is president of Wylie Communications Inc., a training, writing and consulting firm. She works with communicators who want to reach more readers and with organizations that want to get the word out. Wylie is the author of RevUpReadership.com, a toolbox for writers, and Wylie’s Writing Tips, a free e-zine. She has earned more than 60 awards, including two IABC Gold Quills, for her work.

Copyright © 2011 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.