Stickiness

From At Last: A Gettysburg Address America Can Be Proud Of by Walter Russell Mead

Mead, tongue in cheek, renders famous American texts into modern politi-speak. His contrast of the Gettysburg Address as delivered by Lincoln versus what might be rendered by an academic would seem to highlight the six criteria identified by Chip and Dan Heath as to what are the attributes that make a book, idea, speech, product, song, poem, etc. perennial. Their book is Made to Stick and the six criteria are:

* Simplicity
* Unexpectedness
* Concreteness
* Credibility
* Emotional
* Stories

Lincoln's version meets most these criteria. The politi-speak version fails on most these criteria.