I think of "Show, don't tell." as a mnemonic name, comparable to the mnemonic names for instructions in assembler language. Obviously LDA loads the accumulator

I think of "Show, don't tell." as a mnemonic name, comparable to the mnemonic names for instructions in assembler language. Obviously LDA loads the accumulator, but does it also clear the carry bit? You cannot divine from the name. You have to be familiar the details of the instruction from the manual. Similarly, can you ever "tell"? You go to the "Show, don't tell." chapter in the "learn to write novels" book, and re-read the section "Sometimes you have to tell.". You cannot work it out from the three word phrase. It is not just that it is too short. The internal structure is merely mnemonic. "show" doesn't mean "show". "tell" doesn't mean "tell". They are just reminders of the more subtle concepts explained in the chapter.