Normalization in plain English

Question

I understand the concept of database normalization, but always have a hard time explaining it in plain English - especially for a job interview. I have read the wikipedia p

Answer 1

I would say that normalization is like keeping notes to do things efficiently, so to speak:

If you had a note that said you had to go shopping for ice cream without normalization, you would then have another note, saying you have to go shopping for ice cream, just one in each pocket.

Now, In real life, you would never do this, so why do it in a database?

For the designing and implementing part, thats when you can move back to "the lingo" and keep it away from layman terms, but I suppose you could simplify. You would say what you needed to at first, and then when normalization comes into it, you say you'll make sure of the following:

1. There must be no repeating groups of information within a table
2. No table should contain data that is not functionally dependent on that tables primary key
3. For 3NF I like Bill Kent's take on it: Every non-key attribute must provide a fact about the key, the whole key, and nothing but the key.

I think it may be more impressive if you speak of denormalization as well, and the fact that you cannot always have the best structure AND be in normal forms.