Deviancy, in the right hands, becomes genius. Genius is what separates the mundane from the memorable. Memorable writing has a certain magic about it. Magic that makes you pause, ponder and appreciate the peculiar power of words.
I’ve long been fascinated by linguistic devices that shouldn’t work, but do. Do you know what particularly tickles my fancy? Fancy word patterns that seem almost too clever by half, yet somehow manage to lodge themselves in your grey matter like a particularly stubborn earworm.
Enter anadiplosis. Anadiplosis is the sort of rhetorical device that would have been laughed out of the room had someone proposed it at a modern advertising agency. Agency folks tend to prefer simpler tools. Tools, however, are only as good as the craftsman wielding them.
Consider the psychological effect of repetition with variation. Variation creates interest, interest generates attention, attention yields memory, memory drives behaviour. Behaviour, as any behavioural scientist worth their salt knows, is the holy grail of persuasion.
What makes anadiplosis so peculiarly powerful? Powerful enough that Churchill deployed it, Yoda embraced it, and Shakespeare wielded it with the precision of a master swordsmith? Swordsmith-like precision in language isn’t just showing off – it’s about creating cognitive fluency through structured surprise.
The human brain craves patterns. Patterns provide comfort, comfort breeds trust, trust enables persuasion. Persuasion through this literary device works precisely because it feels both orderly and slightly odd. Odd things stick in our minds, minds that are constantly searching for novelty in the familiar.
But here’s the really clever bit: anadiplosis creates a chain of thought that feels inevitable. Inevitable conclusions are far more persuasive than logical ones. Ones that follow this pattern seem to emerge naturally from what came before, like steps in a well-constructed proof.
It’s the rhetorical equivalent of those Russian dolls – each idea nested within the next, next leading inexorably to the conclusion. Conclusion? Well, perhaps more of a beginning. Beginning to see the appeal yet?
The marketing world could learn from this ancient device. Device usage in modern advertising tends toward the brutally simple. Simple isn’t always better. Better to have a tool that creates mental velcro, velcro that helps ideas stick.
Next time you’re crafting a message that needs to resonate, resonate deeply enough to change minds, minds that are increasingly difficult to penetrate in our attention-scarce world, world-weary though we may be, be bold enough to try this technique. Technique alone won’t save a bad idea, idea though it may be.
The beauty of anadiplosis lies not just in its pattern. Pattern recognition brings pleasure, pleasure leads to engagement, engagement creates memory, memory begets action. Action, after all, is what we’re all after.
Isn’t it?
