On the radio this evening a guy was commenting on the difficulty of reaching consensus on some contentious industrial relations issue: "it's like pulling hen's teeth," he said.
Now being interviewed live on the radio is not an easy way to pass a few minutes, so I'm not criticising the interviewee for his slip. What's worth pointing out though is that similes and metaphors may seem attractive shortcuts to get your point across but they are easy to mess up.
In this case, "pulling teeth" is fine as a way of conveying something that's difficult to make happen. It's a bit old-fashioned now, not least because pulling teeth is anything but difficult.
"Hen's teeth" though are about rarity, and while the idea of combining difficulty and rarity is attractive it just ends up sounding a bit muddled. Not a great brand statement.
Better to keep it simple, say "it's hard", and leave it at that.
Tom,
You're right of course, colour is really important - important enough for me to blog on just that topic soon. But I think it's the kind of colour one uses that makes the difference: 70s wallpaper was colourful but I'm not sure it would have quite the right effect now!
Thanks for the comment - see you again soon.
Posted by: Anthony Madigan | 15/03/2009 at 08:03 PM
I'm particularly fond of "herding cats" myself. While I agree that "it's hard" says it effectively, I think there's also room for a little splash of color as well!
Tom Roux
Editor-at-Large
The Business Insider Blog (www.timrosablog.com)
Posted by: Tom Roux | 13/03/2009 at 07:37 PM