.
Once a metaphor has been used for a long time, its original meaning is no longer operative:
The metaphor is dead, but oddly, sometimes
The metaphor resurrects
Dead metaphors sometimes may jump back to life because of some context.
As an example take the computer mouse.
Nobody thinks of a mouse anymore, but if you need two or three, it will have to be “two mice” or “three mouses”, and suddenly, conspicuously the original meaning steps in.
.........................................................................
The metaphor is mixed:
A mixed metaphor is a collision between metaphors.
June 2013: A veteran Spanish politician on the radio:
"We politicans cannot do like the ostrich and simply look the other way."
What’s wrong with that?
It is a confusion over two sayings. One is “looking the other way” and the other is “doing like the ostrich that buries its head in the sand”. They both mean "facing danger", but they cannot be combined.
From Natural Right by Leo Strauss
"...those who prefer to sit on the fences or hide their heads in the sand "
......................................................................
.
The metaphor is reified, has become part of "the real world" for many or most people:
You'll find lots of examples in theology, psychology, history, sociology, some more touchy than others, so that, you know, fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
Pobably all thought proceeds by metaphor.
Einstein seems to have thought that our understanding of time was irreversibly tied to prepositions like “in”, “at”. They are indeed metaphorical.
As to the sciences, just try to recall how more and more computer vocabulary keeps appearing on your mental horizon:
Now, if you compare that to what happens in the humanities:
Where nothing existed, somebody named a “soul” or a “spirit” or a “mind” or a “superego”. ... .. and by creating the name, created the "thing"...... to be "analyzed" for ever and ever.
.......................................................................
Sometimes an author sees that his metaphorse are careening, and instead of rectifying, he adds irony:
Leo Strauss
“On the issue of natural right .......... we see two hostile camps, heavily fortified and strictly guarded.......... and ......... those who prefer to sit on the fences or hide their heads in the sand are, to heap metaphor on metaphor, in the same boat. --They all are modern men.”
...................................................................................................
The metaphor is legerdemain or bogus
Once a metaphor has been used for a long time, its original meaning is no longer operative:
the mouse of a computer
the branches of government
the subconscious mind
to run for office
to pay attention
to call a meeting.....
The metaphor is dead, but oddly, sometimes
The metaphor resurrects
Dead metaphors sometimes may jump back to life because of some context.
As an example take the computer mouse.
Nobody thinks of a mouse anymore, but if you need two or three, it will have to be “two mice” or “three mouses”, and suddenly, conspicuously the original meaning steps in.
.........................................................................
The metaphor is mixed:
A mixed metaphor is a collision between metaphors.
June 2013: A veteran Spanish politician on the radio:
"We politicans cannot do like the ostrich and simply look the other way."
What’s wrong with that?
It is a confusion over two sayings. One is “looking the other way” and the other is “doing like the ostrich that buries its head in the sand”. They both mean "facing danger", but they cannot be combined.
From Natural Right by Leo Strauss
"...those who prefer to sit on the fences or hide their heads in the sand "
......................................................................
.
The metaphor is reified, has become part of "the real world" for many or most people:
the "subconscious mind"
the "classless" "society"
the “purity” of one’s “blood”
the "universe"
You'll find lots of examples in theology, psychology, history, sociology, some more touchy than others, so that, you know, fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
Pobably all thought proceeds by metaphor.
Einstein seems to have thought that our understanding of time was irreversibly tied to prepositions like “in”, “at”. They are indeed metaphorical.
As to the sciences, just try to recall how more and more computer vocabulary keeps appearing on your mental horizon:
a window
a menu
a format
a cache
an octet
a protocol
Now, if you compare that to what happens in the humanities:
Where nothing existed, somebody named a “soul” or a “spirit” or a “mind” or a “superego”. ... .. and by creating the name, created the "thing"...... to be "analyzed" for ever and ever.
.......................................................................
Sometimes an author sees that his metaphorse are careening, and instead of rectifying, he adds irony:
Leo Strauss
“On the issue of natural right .......... we see two hostile camps, heavily fortified and strictly guarded.......... and ......... those who prefer to sit on the fences or hide their heads in the sand are, to heap metaphor on metaphor, in the same boat. --They all are modern men.”
...................................................................................................
The metaphor is legerdemain or bogus
If you read the following text two or three times, you will begin to visualize some meaning, but there isn't any. The syntax is right, the words are suggestive, but it is only a make-believe construct. The words are a random choice.
“A swan nebula is not a taboo of immediate solution even if it were to be seen as leading beyond any reasonable horizon, given the ascendancy of conditions that invite a non sequitur of compliant symbologies traversing the entire realm of consciousness.”
Unfortunately, there is no way to prove that this sentence is meaningless.
I read that the Beatles sometimes created their lyrics this way.
I know of two cases where random choice verbiage had been used to add depth and volume to academic “research”.
Legerdemain or bogus in art criticism:
On Jasper Johns
Explosively .....starkly ....a frenzy .....frantic.... bullet.....terror...adrenaline
The author added "frankly" to make the reader expect some common sense..... .....................................................................
On Rauschenberg:
.
Getting a bit uppity, isn't it?
.............................................................................................................
C r e d i t s
The top photo is by Australian photographer Diliff
There is a gallery of his work at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Diliff
The London Eye photo is licensed under the CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:London_Eye_Twilight_April_2006.jpg
