Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers

Sluice – definition: 1) an artificial passage for water with a gate for controlling its flow; 2) a channel that carries off surplus water; 3) a long sloping trough (as for floating logs to a sawmill)

What an amazing difference between these two water courses. One leaves us with thoughts of stale smelly water while the other is a thing of ingenuity and beauty. Both are methods of manipulating the flow of water to the human desire but the first is more of a practical bare bones nature compared to the ethestically pleasing structure in Italy.

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-02/wind-turbines-embedded-italian-viaduct-would-preserve-architecture-and-generate-power

This is a perfect example of how we can manipulate our words to give our readers a particular vision or image. As I looked at the first sluice I thought – dirty, smelly, slime, old, crumbling, ugly, decrepit. Whilst the second – bright, shiny, ingenious, metal, esthetically pleasing.

See this re-blogged post about the power of words.