Senator Mark Begich, an Alaska Democrat, described the “fiscal cliff” as “probably the most-known phrase in politics now.”

Cliff imagery has been a part of U.S. policy discourse for more than 100 years, Stephen Carter wrote in a Bloomberg View column Nov. 29.

‘The Edge’

“In short, we can safely say that the image of finances hanging at the edge of a cliff or precipice or escarpment goes back a long way,” wrote Carter, a professor at Yale Law School.

The cliff metaphor has created pressure to reach a deal when many of the economic and market effects of inaction would be reversed if Congress reaches an agreement in early 2013, said Stone, whose group advocates policies that benefit low-income households.

“It’s very effective if you in fact can convince people that going past it would be catastrophic,” said Martin Medhurst, a professor of political science at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, who studies political communication. “If it gets to the point where it does go past the deadline, then you could always recalibrate and adopt a different metaphor.”

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