I have a new Mac Book, courtesy of McKinney. This morning I opened up the power adapter box and “read” the instructions.

There were 4 pictures. No words.

This brought me back to the first iMac I ever bought. First off, I actually bought it. And I opened it expecting a Steve Jobs-ian encyclopedia. Instead, a few pictures were included, which I’ve assembled into a single image below.

Even a toddler could understand it. In fact, they’d probably yawn and say “That’s below me.” I think it’s brilliant.

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems that a lot of people think communication is solely a Scrabble game, where you get more points for using more letters. At least a few people have the power of the pretty picture down pat.

Take Japanese Restaurants. All the sushi and sashimi formerly swimming in the deep, blue sea can be found in full color on a table tent, right above the name of the fish in Japanese and English.

Wham, bam thank you ma’am.

Another way to cut the crapulous blather of words is to pack necessary product info into the product name itself. Hence, Shake & Bake. (Need any further instructions?)

Or the new SlapChop, the vegetable and nut chopper shilled by the energetic host of the ShamWow. These companies get mileage out of both syllables in the titles.

Now it’s not always smart to be brief. (Wedding vows that consist of the word “ditto” may make for a very brief marriage.) But at the end of the day, a verdict is one word or two, I love you is three and an Apple Instruction Manual is zero.