I tried writing an analogy to explain the difference between enantiomers and diastereomers. However, I'm not entirely sure if it's actually a correct representation of the differences. It might also be more confusing than it has to be:
To use an everyday object as an illustration of the difference, imagine two forks with four tines each. If fork 1 has its first and third tine longer than the other ones, and fork 2 has its second and fourth tine longer than the other ones, then the two forks would not match completely if you tried to stack them on top of each other. However, if you held fork 2 up to a mirror, then you would see it now has both its elongated tines in the same place as fork 1. These forks would be enantiomers of each other because they are the same thing, but mirror images of each other
If you changed fork 2 to have its first and second tine longer than the other ones, instead of the second and the fourth, then the two forks would instead be diastereomers. This is because now they both cannot match completely when stacked on top of each other, and holding either one up to a mirror will not make them look any more similar. This is exactly how diastereomers work too, because it only partially mirrors its counterpart. As you can see, fork 2 now has its first elongated tine actually match the first elongated tine of fork 1, while also retaining the effect that holding it up to a mirror will have its second elongated tine match that of fork 1. That is, in the mirror fork 2 will have its third tine elongated, just like fork 1 does when not viewed through a mirror. In other words, fork 2 has its first elongated tine match fork 1’s, but its second elongated tine is the mirror image of fork 1’s. This makes them diastereomers because they are the same thing, but neither structurally identical nor complete mirror images of each other.
So, is there anything off about my analogy, or does it correctly and comprehensibly explain the difference between the two?