The Higgs is like the water in the ocean. Particles are like boats. Some boats have sleek hulls and so the water doesn't slow them down too much. These are p

The Higgs is like the water in the ocean. Particles are like boats. Some boats have sleek hulls and so the water doesn't slow them down too much. These are particles without much mass. Some boats have a few barnacles on their hulls. These are particles with more mass. The analogy is imperfect: if you give a boat a single push it will come to a stop, losing energy to the water; if you give a particle a push through the Higgs field it keeps going, it is not possible to give your momentum to the vacuum.