Care to share any excellent analogies that help you understand or explain difficult concepts?

@laureth I formulate metaphors everyday when I explain things to people. They can draw a word picture that can clearly illustrate an otherwise difficult or obscure concept. Thank you for the links. I wish I had one for you in return. Interesting question.

i’m not a physicist nor do i play one on tv but in high school i remember learning about the conservation of energy law (energy never goes away it transfers forms) and the mass-energy equivalence concept (e=mc2) which somehow, someway explains to me the connectedness of things and what happens after death.

On Heaven and Hell

The Warrior approached the Monk and asked:
“Great Master. Teach me the nature of Heaven and Hell”.

The Monk looked up and smiled, saying:
“A worthless dog such as yourself could never understand such things”.

The Warrior was enraged, and pulled his sword to the Monk’s neck:
“Prepare to die Monk, for your insults will not be tolerated”!

The Monk looked up and smiled, saying:
“Now, you are in Hell”.

The Warrior realized his error, and dropping his sword, he fell to his knees.
“Forgive me Master, for I have sinned against you”.

The Monk looked up and smiled, saying:
“Now, you are in Heaven”.

When ever I don’t want to do something because its challenging, I think of the question, of “Why did the chicken cross the road”. Of course it was to get to the other side.
It doesn’t matter actually why she needed to get to the other side but what matters is that the chicken wasn’t going to let the road intimidate her to be limited. She was going to accept any challenge that came down the road. Life can be dangerous but not living is simply sad.

I tend to think in metaphors and analogies, much to the amusement of some and the consternation of others, and I usually generate them spontaneously when trying to explain something. But I don’t seem to be able to access them directly in a mental folder labeled ‘Metaphors&Analogies.’ I guess they must all be in subfolders on paths beneath the specific concepts I’m explaining. For example, I know I use Cinderella and her coach for something, and there’s, uh, a book… Sorry, I just can’t do it that way. Empty folder.

Actually I think anything can be used metaphorically, and sometimes it’s reciprocal. I just reach for what I need at the time.

Well, there is one that stands out in memory: “The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon.” Thank Zen for that.

Given a specific concept, I can probably tell you what metaphorical shape it would have for me.

@Jeruba exactly. I couldn’t just think of a metaphor to save my life, but give me a concept and I’ll have one. Or several.

Looks like my answer to the question took the form of a metaphor.

Little Johnny: Dad, what’s the difference between theory and practice?
Dad: Go ask your mother and your sister if they’d sleep with the neighbor for a million dollars.
[Little Johnny goes ask them, and comes back with the answers.]
Little Johnny: They both said they would, dad.
Dad: Okay, so, in theory, we have two million dollars. In practice, we have two whores.

Life is like a fountain, or something.

I fucking love The Spoon Theory. I wish more people knew about it and believed it.

Years ago when we homeschooled, my daughter and her little friend were in a science fair project together. These kids were in 4th grade, and they had to learn what the term “co-valent bond meant. I took a teddy bear, and asked one girl to hold it by the arm. Then I asked the other girl to hold the other arm, and explained that each of the girls were atoms, and the teddy bear was the electron. They both needed an electron, but could only get it by sharing one.

Suddenly a difficult concept became “child’s play” and they danced all over the house singing about their co-valent relationship with a teddy bear. It was adorable!

By the way, they were competing against high school kids. We moms drove the girls all over, but the girls did the math, interviewed the scientists, wrote the notes, and so on, so they really did know their material. They won 2nd place in the Regional Science Fair.

Like @Trillian and @Jeruba, I am comfortable with using metaphors and analogies.

Nearly every time I am called on to explain a concept, I construct one or the other to convey my explanation is a way that illuminates my meaning and enhances the memorability of my explanation.

As a former University instructor, I relied on these to help my students understand and learn some pretty complex concepts.