278. Summary: The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase

<p>There are some invisible structures in language, and using them can be the difference between your message being forgotten or living through the ages. These are <a href= "https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00INIXG4I?tag=kadavyinc-20"><em>The Elements of Eloquence</em></a>, which is the title of Mark Forsyth’s book. I first picked this up a couple years ago, and have read it several times since then. I think it’s one of the best writing books, and has dramatically improved my writing. Here is my summary of <em>The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase</em>.</p> <h3>How powerful could this stuff be?</h3> <p>Can hidden patterns in language really be the difference between being remembered and forgotten? The technical term for the study of these patterns is “rhetoric,” and yes, it can make a big difference.</p> <h4>Misremembered phrases</h4> <p>While it’s hard to find data on what has been forgotten – see 99.9% of everything ever said or written – there are examples of things that have been misremembered.</p> <ul> <li>You’ve heard the expression, “blood, sweat, and tears.” That comes from a Winston Churchill speech. He actually said he had “nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.”</li> <li>Remember when, in <em>The Wizard of Oz</em>, the Wicked Witch of the West said, “Fly, my pretties, fly!”? Well, it never happened. She actually merely exclaimed “Fly!” four times in a row.</li> <li>The line remembered as “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”, was actually "Heav'n has no rage, like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury, like a woman scorned."</li> </ul> <p>I’ll get into some theories about why these phrases were misremembered in a bit.</p> <h4>Non-sensical expressions</h4> <p>You can also see evidence of the power of rhetoric in expressions that have spread through culture. Sometimes they don’t make literal sense, but have appealing patterns.</p> <ul> <li>It “takes two to tango,” but why not “it takes two to waltz”?</li> <li>People go “whole hog,” but why not “whole pig”?</li> <li>W