Why using concrete, visualisable language works

Weak words are more abstract. They don’t conjure clear images. This makes them less compelling.

For example:

I used to work in an office with two side-by-side bins in the kitchen. One was labeled MIXED RECYCLING. It was for plastic bottles and containers, tin and aluminum cans, all sorts of paper, all sorts of glass.

The other was labeled LANDFILL. It was for everything else.

The latter doesn’t say TRASH or GARBAGE by design because, in this instance, LANDFILL generates an image. When you read it, you instantly see where the Coke can you just tossed will end up.