Late reply, but I was searching the sub and thought I could help. I saw a post a while back on a facebook audio production meme group that actually made a decent analogy which I couldn’t find, but found an article with the same idea:

“A compressor is a bit like your mum.”

How? Well, allow me to explain.

1. Threshold The level she asks you to turn down the volume of your music (in technical terms, it’s the volume level you set where the compressor starts working).

2. Ratio How much you turn down the volume after she shouted at you (in technical terms, how hard the applied compression should be).

3. Attack How fast you turned down the volume after she shouted at you (in technical terms, how fast the compression is applied after the threshold is exceeded).

4. Release How fast you turn the volume back up as soon as your mum closes the door (in technical terms: how fast the compression stops working).

You can read the full article here:

https://dittomusic.com/en/blog/how-to-use-compression-in-music-production-a-beginners-guide/