The Rule of Three: Two Approaches

Remember the Tricolon

By Maeve Maddox

A tricolon is a rhetorical device that employs a series of three parallel words, phrases, or clauses. The word derives from Greek tri (“three”) + colon (“section of a sentence”). The plural of tricolon is tricola.

Julius Caesar’s famous “Veni, vidi, vici” is a tricolon consisting of three verbs. The tricolon is phrased in ascending order, culminating with the most important action: “I came, I saw, [and] I conquered.”

Churchill’s famous line in praise of the Royal Air Force repeats a “so” phrase: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

Phrased in descending order or with an unexpected combination of words, a tricolon can be used for humorous effect, as in this quotation ascribed to Dorothy Parker: “I require three things in a man. He must be handsome, ruthless and stupid.”
Tricola are at work in the answers to these two questions:

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
—Practice, practice, practice.
What are the three things that matter in property?
—Location, location, location.

Quotations that remain in the memory long after one’s school days often contain tricola:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
of the people, by the people, for the people
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Many of our idioms, clichés, and fossilized legal phrases take the form of tricola:

Every Tom, Dick and Harry
Lock, stock, and barrel
Wine, women, and song
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

Advertisers and PR agents understand the power of the tricola:

Power, beauty, and soul (Aston Martin)
Keeps going and going and going. (Energizer)
Grace…space…pace. (Jaguar)
Snap! Crackle! Pop! (Rice Krispies)
Buy it. Sell it. Love it. (Ebay)
Thinner, lighter, and faster. (iPad2)
Stop, Look, and Listen (Traffic safety slogan)
Drop, Cover, and Hold On (Earthquake/tornado safety slogan)

One of the most useful aspects of this rhetorical device is its effectiveness in embedding a thought in the memory.

The Rule of Three
A humor technique from the world of comedy.

There is a useful joke structure in humor writing called the rule-of-three. Here's an example of the rule-of-three which I've used as the greeting on my telephone answering machine: "Sorry I can't personally answer the phone. I'm either motivating thousands of people, appearing on the Oprah show...or taking a nap. Please leave a message and I'll return your call when I wake up."

Here's what makes the rule of three work:

A funny line is sometimes said to be like a train wreck. You know where the train (your train of thought) has been, you think you know where it's going, but then you're surprised when it goes off track. The same sort of thing happens when you see the unexpected slip on the banana peel. The surprise or twist helps build the tension to create and magnify the humor.

The rule-of-three structure sets a pattern like the train coming down the tracks. You'll see a similar principle in action in a two-person comedy act. The straight person sets up the pattern which the funny person's punchline will break. The rule-of-three structure uses this same structure. The first two items in the triplet set the pattern (the "straight" line) and the third item breaks the pattern (the curve/the twist/the derailment). Breaking the pattern heightens the tension and creates the surprise, usually resulting in laughter. There are countless patterns you could use:

Same Category/Same Category/Different Category (T-shirt which lists world-class cities: Paris/Tokyo/Fargo).

Expected Trait/Expected Trait/Unexpected Trait (She was pretty, she was shapely, she was a man).

Something Everyone Loves/Something Everyone Loves/Something Everyone Hates (A Las Vegas wedding package contains everything you will need; music, flowers, a divorce document).

Ordinary/Ordinary/Ridiculous (I go to Las Vegas to see the shows, eat at the buffets and visit my money).

Extreme/Extreme/Ordinary (Speaking to thousands, appearing on Oprah, taking a nap)

Rhyme/Rhyme/Rhyme (rhyming sets a pattern and can disguise or add a special twist to the third-item punchline). Here's an example I created for a 50th birthday party using the "answer first then the question" vehicle which Johnny Carson made famous. "The answer is…Three things that describe Suzie Smith. And the question is…what are Nifty, Thrifty and Fifty." This example also uses the category Something Good/Something Good/Something Not So Good (people don't want to get older). I could have used the word Shifty as one of the first two words, but that would have been less effective setting the proper pattern.

Why three? It's just one of those tried and true rules of comedy. It's a rhythm that works. It's part of the music of the humor structure. Experiment and you'll find it's true...a series of three almost always works better than a series of two or four.

Use the rule-of-three technique and it will become a natural part of your humor tool kit. You'll find yourself to be funnier, you'll connect better with your audiences, and in only fifteen years you'll become an overnight success.

Copyright 2006 by John Kinde

You may republish this article with the following credit line:
"Copyright by John Kinde, who is a humor specialist in the training and speaking business for over 30 years specializing in teambuilding, customer service and stress management. Free Special Reports: Show Me The Funny -- Tips for Adding Humor to Your Presentations and When They Don't Laugh -- What To Do When the Laughter Doesn't Come. Humor Power Tips newsletter, articles and blog are available at www.humorpower.com."

A Rhetorical Menage a Trois

One of a writer's most useful tools - right up there with talent, persistence and a taste for poverty - is the rule of three. As illustrated in the previous sentence.

Define it broadly. Define it narrowly, in rhetorical terms, as the tricolon. But never define it late for dinner. (Okay, it doesn't always work.)

Comedians love it as a reliable joke formula.  Great speakers use it as naturally as they draw air into their lungs. (Scroll down to Quintillian: "The rule of three creates an illusion of completeness and finality.")

Working writers use it because it works.

I recommend the use of Three Magic in its simplest terms. If you are ending a speech story with quotes from the audience, include at least three because if you have three good ones, I always assume you have more than that, but if you only have two, I always assume that's all you have. (Does that make sense? I am simply describing my personal reaction.)

If you giving a string of examples in a story, give three, and it's even better if you give them in ascending order of importance, with the last one often delivering a surprise: "On her desk you notice three things: a stained coffee cup, a pencil broken in half and an autographed picture of Justin Bieber."

Or maybe, in a paraphrase even though you are not quoting directly, you repeat the same word three times: "He cares about the people, he kept saying. He says he really does care about them. The people, you know. He means the people."

We aren't rigid about applying this rule. Not everything works in threes. But keep it in mind. It's something I am aware of in my own writing, and naturally I think it's a hell of a fine idea. I could have said it's a hell of a heckuva fine idea. But come on.

(Here's a sample Rule Three joke from Jon Stewart. "I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land.")