During my 11 years of exhibiting geeks, I used many of the techniques favored by showmen throughout the ages. As with any sales endeavor, the pitch and a few tricks were woven together to whet the appetite of the audience. A cardinal rule was to exaggerate some of the more colorful aspects of the side show attraction and to never rely on one word when four would do. This gave a certain balance or rhythm to the pitch. For example, when explaining the moral quality of the show, it would be unthinkable to simply state, "It's a clean show." Rather this: "There will be nothing seen, heard, said, or done that would mar the impunity or injure the ...