Infographic: figures of speech

As Donald Trump’s wife Melania is accused of plagiarising Michelle Obama in her speech at the Republican National Convention, we look at some of history’s most famous speeches and determine where high-profile orators fall on the reading age and egotism spectrums.

The horizontal axis shows what reading age the audience needs to be to understand the speech, while the vertical axis shows the prevalence of mentions of “me”, “myself” and “I”. In case you were wondering, Melania’s speech was suitable for an audience with the reading level of twelve-year-olds.

This infographic was taken from issue #22 of Delayed Gratification. To see it in all its printed glory, buy the issue in our shop or take out an annual subscription with promotional code SOCIAL20 and we’ll send you the issue for free.