Here at Acacia Avenue, we often talk about language leaks.  We mean the virtually hidden metaphors that are embedded in sentences that, although barely visible, are still full of meaning.

Here’s an example.  We recently had a couple of meetings, one after another, with senior people in two very large, international companies, and in both cases we heard people using the word ‘piece’, as in “the brand piece”, or “the service piece”, to refer to other work streams that were going on elsewhere in those businesses (’streams’ is another by the way).  Now it’s really interesting that people in big companies talk about ‘pieces’, when it’s hard to see the whole thing.  Perhaps they are hopeful of all the pieces coming together.  Let’s hope so.