Some words can be used to ‘lend’ influence to others. In this pattern, two things become linked in a person’s mind. There are various simple words to do this, words that you use every day.
Linking with a simple conjunction, such as ‘and’, can be very powerful, because we tend to consciously ignore small words.
At this point you might be thinking “seriously – ‘and’ ? That’s it?” Bear with me.
Because we ignore words like ‘and’, we need to sharpen our awareness to notice the effect of this linking.
How it’s misused:
For example, think about the phrase “health and beauty”. We see this fairly often and don’t question it, but do the two necessarily belong together?
Are healthy people necessarily beautiful? Are beautiful people necessarily healthy? I’m sure we can agree that the link between the two is nowhere near as definite as the phrase might imply. How about “health and safety”? Again, the link is tenuous at best. This is true of many statements which are linked with the word ‘and’.
How about an advertising example: Have a coke and a smile
How you can use it powerfully:
On the upside, this language pattern is really easy to use. Just link something together with something else using ‘and’. Here are some examples.
“relax and enjoy yourself”
“have fun and do well in your interview”
“take your time and come up with the right answer”
It’s really simple and you can test it out for yourself.
Summary:
To add borrowed influence to an idea, use simple linkages like ‘and’.
