People are like Tea Bags - Kevin Pashuk - Canada

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago · 3 min. reading time · ~10 ·

Blogging

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People are like Tea Bags

Phil Friedman has recently dubbed me a “Prairie-Culture philosopher” in his most recent post.

( www.bebee.com/producer/@friedman-phil/about-writing-about-writing )

I’ll accept that badge.

Both my parents are prairie people, and we didn’t waste words in our house.

If there was nothing to say, we didn’t.

I like short pithy sayings, full of wisdom.

If they have some wit in there, that’s a bonus.

Let me share a story with you.

Over thirty years ago I heard a speaker who happened to be from Tennessee. I’ve completely forgotten his name, but one phrase he used to make a point has stuck with me since.

Appropriately enough, in speaking about diligence and tenacity, he said “Stick to it like a hair in a biscuit!”

When the audience did that little head tilt thing, you know the kind when you say something to your dog and they have no clue what you just said? It was that kind of reaction.

He then told the story of where he got that phrase.

He was visiting a young lady’s house for dinner… to meet the parents.

This is not a particularly comfortable experience for any young man, so he was all shined up and on his best behaviour.

The table had been set nicely, since the girl’s mother knew her daughter liked this young man, and wanted it to be a great experience.

As was the custom, fresh warm biscuits were baked and were in a basket on the table.

During grace, when heads were bowed and eyes were supposedly closed, the young man cracked open an eye to make sure he wasn’t being sized up by the dad. Thankfully dad’s eyes were closed as he offered the prayer of thanks.

It was then he noticed a long strand of hair on the table beside his plate.

Being a considerate young man, he realized that his beau’s mother would be aghast that her perfectly set table contained an intruder.

Taking advantage of the moment, he decided to covertly remove the hair from the table… so he reached out as quietly as he could, grabbed the hair and began to slowly pull back his hand…

… at which point the biscuit in the basket, to which the hair was attached, came tumbling out of basket with a loud crash.

We as an audience understood perfectly what he meant by “Stuck to her like a hair in a biscuit”.

What this speaker had just done, is use one of the most powerful tools we can use in writing, speaking and communicating – the simile.

I’m a big fan of similes.

They are short, pithy bits of wisdom that make a point, which for people like me, are easy to remember.

Similes help other people remember what you say.

Sometime they are self-explanatory.

"Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."
Forrest Gump

Others are so bizarre, they make people stop and think.

"A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle,"
- Irina Dunn, popularized by Gloria Steinem

Sometimes they are funny.

"I told my wife that a husband is like a fine wine; he gets better with age. The next day, she locked me in the cellar."

"Cleaning the house while your kids are still home is like shoveling while it's still snowing."

Others open the door to telling a story, like I described above.

What does happen, is that your audience remembers the point you were trying to make.

As a leader, or a writer, you say things that you hope people will remember.

Put the power of the simile into your arsenal of tools.

Back up the similes with a story.

Your team and your audience with thank you for it.

Now to close the loop on the title of this post.

“People are like tea bags”.

I first saw this on a fridge door about 35 years ago.

I still remember it.

It comes to mind regularly as I’m dealing with situations.

This shows the power of what I’ve just spent 671 words describing above.

It came to mind this week during the election south of the Canadian border.

Of course there was a second part to this quote.

The whole quote reads

“People are like tea bags. Their true flavor doesn’t come out until they are in hot water.”
Sign on a fridge door.

What’s your favourite simile?

__________________________________________________________

Image: Used under Creative Commons License

About the Author:

I’m the Chief Information Officer for Appleby College, in Oakville, Ontario Canada, where my team is transforming the delivery of education through innovative application of technology.

I'm convinced that IT leadership needs to dramatically change how IT is delivered rather than being relegated to a costly overhead department.

In addition to transforming IT in my role as CIO, I look for every opportunity to talk about this... writing, speaking and now blogging on BeBee (www.bebee.com/@kevin-pashuk) , LinkedIn, ITWorld Canada, or at TurningTechInvisible.com.

I also shoot things... with my camera. Check out my photostream at www.flickr.com/photos/kwpashuk

""""

#Phil Friedman #beau #Tea Bags #Tennessee #Prairie

Comments

Robert Cormack

6 years ago #58

Good stuff, Kevin Pashuk. Nothing like a simile to remind us when we're in hot water.

Kevin Pashuk

6 years ago #57

Fixed for all the sharp grammar cops who know the difference between metaphors and similes....

Louise Smith

6 years ago #56

#98
Thank you Gerald Hecht They are particularly Australian. Another is "How's your Mother's chooks?" means how are you & yours? Try that on a Japanese National ... :(

Louise Smith

6 years ago #55

May your chooks turn into emus and kick your dunny door down a way of wishing someone bad luck.

Louise Smith

6 years ago #54

Full as a centipede's sock drawer very full - a person who has over eaten

Louise Smith

6 years ago #53

Useful as an ashtray on a motorbike unhelpful or incompetent person or thing

Louise Smith

6 years ago #52

A person who is flat out like a Lizard drinking is flat out, busy

Louise Smith

6 years ago #51

A person who has kangaroos in the top paddock they are crazy or unintelligent

Louise Smith

6 years ago #50

#42
a rudd at a strip show ?

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

6 years ago #49

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving. Albert Einstein?

CityVP Manjit

6 years ago #48

Good story. I am not fussed about the simile/metaphor thing, this whole buzz has more to offer than pour some tea for the grammar police. It is the story that brought home to me the hair in the biscuit connection. It is a good one for our own club's students to learn from whether it is the buzz or the comments.

Louise Smith

6 years ago #47

#1
• If it was between that and drinking vomit, I’d have to sit down and think about it. I like this gruesome on Javier \ud83d\udc1d beBee

Kevin Pashuk

6 years ago #46

#77
Thanks for the recommendation Gerald Hecht. I just bought the e-book on Amazon. I don't think it will have the same impact as a 'big stick' replacement as the hardcover.

Kevin Pashuk

6 years ago #45

I've been corrected about the definition of metaphor... but I still think that people are like tea bags...

David Navarro López

7 years ago #44

I like metaphors too, I find them a good way to make the audience remember the message you want to transmit. But in some cases, a tag of "handle with care" should be put into this powerful tool. Some people abuse of the metaphors, and try to establish all kind of similarities between the metaphor and the message they want to transmit, in a way that the original message is no longer interesting. In others, like in advertising, the metaphor is so powerful that the audience virtually forgets about the product, and only remembers the metaphor. Porque yo lo valgo, (Could be translated as :because I deserved it) was a very successful advertising campaign of L'Oreal, on which a beautiful lady was choosing the brand as a matter of excellence. In my country, this sentence has become a part of the day to day speaking, but nobody know where does it come from.

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #43

#58
The problem is that true metaphors are rare. We most often speak in similes --- which some grammarians consider a sub-class of metaphors. Personally, I identify metaphors as similar in structure and function to conceptual models. For example, water running in pipes (which can be directly observed) is often used as a conceptual model for electricity "running" in wires (which cannot be directly observed). The downfall of relying too heavily on a metaphor is that metaphors are also rarely completely isomorphic with that which is the co-reference of the metaphor. For instance, bee society and its social structure can be used as a metaphor for the structure of social media. (Wow! That's a novel idea ain't it?) But while we may like to play around with bees buzzing about, making honey, cross-pollinating, and so on, we might not like some other aspects of the metaphor. Namely, the fact that a bee colony functions as a multi-part, but single biological entity, in which the individual being of its members is submerged in, and subordinated entirely to the will and the welfare of the collective. Very much like the Borg Collective in the Star Trek series.And very much the anathema of what free people value highly, namely, free and individual belief and exchange., Cheers!

Wayne Yoshida

7 years ago #42

#53
Someone had to do it!

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #41

#60
Apology accepted Gerald, and if you ask Jim Murray, there is no such thing as a superfluous Dylan quote.

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #40

OK Alexa Steele.. Here's the definition from Dictionary.Com Metaphor -The comparison of one thing to another without the use of like or as: “A man is but a weak reed”; “The road was a ribbon of moonlight.” Perhaps to satiate the grammar contrarians in the bunch, the title should be... "He was a teabag whose true flavour was revealed when he got into hot water." But it doesn't flow as well.

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #39

OK Alexa Steele... Here's the definition from Dictionary.Com Metaphor -The comparison of one thing to another without the use of like or as: “A man is but a weak reed”; “The road was a ribbon of moonlight.” Perhaps to satiate the grammar contrarians in the bunch, the title should be... "He was a teabag whose true flavour was revealed when he go into hot water." But it doesn't flow as well.

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #38

#52
When I first arrived in London, Ontario to teach at the University of Western Ontario, I went to a downtown movie theater with my wife. That was back before digital control in the projection room. The movie started, but there was no sound. Everyone in the theater waited patiently. About 3 minutes went by with no sound. We all realized that the projectionist had started the movie, but then stepped out of the projection booth to do something else, otherwise he or she would have realized the problem. If nothing was done quicly, we would miss a significant portion of the movie's sund track --- or have to wait while the entire thing was rewound. So being a crass American, I began shouting through cupped hands at the top of my lungs "SOUND, SOUND, SOUND!" Which was standard procedure in the culture from which I came. Everyone in the theater --- all Canadians I presumed --- turned to stare at me as if I were absolutely crazy. Of course, when the sound came on very shortly thereafter, they all gave me a standing ovation. Polite in their personal deportment at all times. Cheers!

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #37

#51
Thanks Phil. You are as polite as a Canadian.

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #36

#47
Yes, Alexa, one of the tip offs of a simile is the word "like", as in "People are like tea bags". But I wasn't going to point that out to our host, for I am too polite. :-)

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #35

#49
Thanks Jim. I'm having some fun at your expense on the Twitter Chat tonight...

Jim Murray

7 years ago #34

Living up to to your Phil Friedman moniker. Bravo.

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #33

#47
Shhhh., They are having fun Irene. We'll correct them later...

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #32

#34
for sure, Kev, but then the world would be as quiet as a nun at a strip show. 😂

Randy Keho

7 years ago #31

#29
Every name in the book.

Wayne Yoshida

7 years ago #30

#23
Funny. I realized I didn't actually answer your question for favorite metaphors. Here's one from my infamous boss long ago: "He doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground." I always hope those guys don't play golf.

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #29

#37
Gee... I wonder if the Producers of that movie got the jump on their competition?

Wayne Yoshida

7 years ago #28

#18
#31 Mad rabbits? Like this movie? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Lepus

Harvey Lloyd

7 years ago #27

#30
Yes the day i new i was old.....i repeated that "metaphor" to my own children. As i remember the whole family fell on the floor laughing during a very serious disciplinary hearing. Maybe we will find that preverbal bridge one day and meet our friends and have a drink or two. Lift our mugs to mom!

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #26

#22
Thanks Erroll, I'm sure we have enough material for several posts on the concept of 'true flavour'.

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #25

#21
Thanks for reminding me Ken that if the Aussies didn't have colloquialisms, they'd have nothing to say.

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #24

#20
You are welcome Sharon.

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #23

#19
Thanks Praveen.

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #22

#18
Mad as a rabbit? Perhaps it is all the 'hops' in the fine craft beer I indulge in on occasion Pascal. Where I grew up we used "Mad as a mother bear"... most of us knew exactly what that meant.

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #21

#17
Your mother and my mother must have gone to the same school. I can't tell you how many times I heard "If Michael jumped off a bridge..?"

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #20

#16
I don't need to use my Canadian imagination Randy... I have UrbanDictionary.com to explain things to me... You are right, the definition is best not posted here. What did she call you?

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #19

#15
Thanks Franci! Javier does appear to have enjoyed himself coming up with his comments.

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #18

#13
Sweet T'underin Jesus! Thanks Renée. In my draft version I had reference to both Canada's East coast and the US's Deep South and their use of idioms. Thanks for bringing some of them to the forefront.

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #17

#12
Thank you Don for allowing this post to get by the NSFW filters...

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #16

#11
You are welcome Laurent.

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #15

#10
Thank you Ali. Your compliments are always so flavourful.

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #14

#9
I had forgotten that one Wayne. My mind is like a steel trap... rusted shut.

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #13

Hey Kev, my fellow Aussies, who live beyond the black stump, particularly those with a kangaroo loose in the top paddock, would, of course, quick as a rat up a drain pipe, or a lizard drinkin', respond to your tea bag metaphor by stating that your whole idea's a storm in a tea cup. But there again who am I to cut loose? I don't have a clue what a meta's for! 😟

Pascal Derrien

7 years ago #12

:-) you are Mad as a rabbit Kevin Pashuk

Harvey Lloyd

7 years ago #11

The one that is cemented in my head from youth........."So if your friend jumped off a bridge you would too"? Apparently, I used the experiences of my friends to remove myself from discipline a lot. It didnt work out.

Randy Keho

7 years ago #10

A few years ago, I came up with a not-so-flattering nickname for our office manager. Fortunately, having been raised in Chicago (albeit the suburbs), she found it amusing. I fondly refer to her as "Whisker Biscuit." I'll leave it up to your Canadian imagination to decipher the meaning. It's just too ungentlemanly to reveal.

don kerr

7 years ago #9

My favourite I can't use here. It's in the same family as 'stuck to her like white on rice' but it's not that.

Laurent Boscherini

7 years ago #8

Thank you Kevin Pashuk for sharing your insightful and timeless conundrum so delightful with Honey ;)

Ali Anani

7 years ago #7

Kevin Pashuk- you are my "tea bag" with the best flavor possible.

Wayne Yoshida

7 years ago #6

#8
Or, like we said when we were kids -- what's worse than seeing a worm in your apple? Seeing half a worm.

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #5

Living life is like eating an apple. The bigger the bites, the greater the chance that a piece will get stuck in your throat. Cheers!

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #4

So far, Javier is the winner by a country mile (by a huge margin). Check out the comments... What's your favourite metaphor?

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #3

#1
#2 It would seem Javier beBee that we share a love of metaphors, like two peas in a pod, or bees in a hive.

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #2

Here you can find some metaphors PART II :-) • It felt like a turtleneck on a hot day. • The courage and determination of Rocky Balboa and the heart of Mother Theresa. • The intellectual prowess of an Ivory league graduate and the tenacity of an alley fighter. • Copywriting that could chew through a steel pipe • So hot you could cook an egg on top of it. • Like flossing with barbed wire. • Like a tribe of cannibals chewing on themselves • It was like killing a fly with a sledgehammer • It was like lighting a cigarette with a flame thrower • It was like trying to drink from a hire hose • It was like trying to land an airplane on a tightrope • His smile was a row of broken candles dripping with yellow wax • His hand was a limp dishrag • It will be like plunging into a pool of cool Jello • His voice was the lovechild of a tuba and a chainsaw • Running like a Swiss clock. • Couldn’t sell sleeping pills to an insomniac. • It was like crawling naked over a poison oak patch • Copywriting that chews up nails and spits out diamonds. • It was like driving at night with sunglasses and no headlights. • Products that look like they came out of the bottom of a cracker jack box. • You can’t serve caviar and cheeseburgers from the same kitchen. • Longer than a giraffe’s necktie • He was a shark amongst clownfish • She was a flower that had grown out of a pot of dirt/worms • She was a rose amongst dandelions • He was sharp as a tack, a very dull one

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #1

Here you can find some metaphors PART I :-) • Dishonest enough to steal the pennies off a dead man’s eyes. • His breath was bad enough to take the paint off a car. • It was like watching a boxing match between Mike Tyson and Mr. Rogers. • It felt like crawling naked over barbed wire. • It melted away like butter dripping off a hot biscuit. • Bigger than (big as) the great pyramid. • Enough money to buy the Great Wall of China. • Madder than a cat in a burlap sack. • Like giving a root canal to a crocodile (or Tasmanian devil). • Oozed over me like warm honey. • Happier than a kid in a Jello pool. • Like being naked in front of the whole third grade class. • Like a kid being sent to timeout. • Purgatory for "target market"or "target market" purgatory. • If it was between that and drinking vomit, I’d have to sit down and think about it. • Like juggling hand grenades. • Like choking down tequila flavored cough syrup. • So good, if you threw it up into the air it would turn to sunshine. • Like a bucket of ice water. • Like wearing a barbed wire g-string (or jock strap). • Like shooting a spit ball at a freight train. • Like a freight train with bicycle brakes. • Like a roach on a birthday cake. • Polishing brass on the Titanic. • Like a bucket of vomit with a cherry on top. • Like being on a seesaw with a sumo wrestler. • Looked like he’d been playing patty cake with Edward Scissorhands. • Blood pressure high enough to break the Hoover Damn. • It was like gargling sandspurs. • So skinny he looked like a stack of spare ribs.

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