I don’t know if it’s because I spend much of my time explaining to computers what I would like them to do, but I’m starting to develop a passing interest in ways of expressing a lot of meaning with the bare minimum of language.

Most of these language forms use a shared point of reference, none more so than metaphor. Others rely on imagination (like Haiku) or a talented wordsmith (such as 6 word short stories).

I tripped over a new metaphor earlier on today for a management phenomenon I’m sure many of you will be familiar with, namely:

The tendancy of a committee to spend a disproportionate amount of time debating relatively unimportant yet readily understandable issues rather than considering issues of greater consequence and complexity.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Bikeshed Painting.

As a side note, there’s an amusing set of new alert boxes that somebody has proposed for all email clients, about two thirds of the way down this list post.

I think we’ve all been there..