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Metaphor Zoo

Implied Metaphors

These metaphors greatly involve audience members’ minds  because the number 2 metaphoric element is never directly stated (for the cognoscenti, no metaphier) thereby grabbing quick engagement.


Examples:
From a shoe ad in the mid-nineties:
“One small step for you, one great step for Earth.”


From a review of a book outlining how counterculture food products were co-opted by the mega-food industry:
“… aped but not imitated in innocuous new wrappers and artful grammatical dodge that de-fanged the health-food movement’s attempt to revolutionize both how we cook and what we eat.”


From a book review about legal crusaders:
“… where discriminatory laws infested every aspect of society.”
From an ad describing a new, innovative flat screen tv monitor:
“Mitsubishi’s new [flat screen monitor] is the first 45 inch set that doesn’t require its own zip code.”


From Steven Levy’s response when Apple made it possible to run Windows on a Mac:
“Now excuse me while I book my ski trip in hell.”


From one columnist’s view of a dangerous political commentator:
“… there is no road too low for him to slither upon.”


So, as you can see, implied metaphors can draw upon well-known sayings from famous events (e.g., the first moon landing), from unstated creatures (dangerous, fanged animals, or snakes), or scary verbs associated with undesirable critters or insects (“infested”), or cultural knowledge plus hyperbole (e.g., typical size of zip code areas), or even attempted renovation of a worn-out saying (“when hell freezes over”). Bonus to any who can find the implied metaphor I’ve just used in the previous paragraph.

Negated Metaphors

These metaphors, or other non-literal comparisons, quite simply reverse, or negate, or otherwise overturn  a number 2 metaphor element (for the cognoscenti, a negated metaphier).


Examples:
From an article on the judicial system prior to new sentencing guidelines and requirements:
“It [the judicial system] used to be like a revolving door . . .”


From advice from a time-organization expert:
“Many of our bad habits are really ‘gifts that we’re wearing wrong-side out.’”


Concerning the expectations of entrepreneurs who might be tempted to work in a gritty renaissance in Detroit:
‘But before you show up, you need to know that it ain’t damn Disneyland for hipsters.’


Concerning the review of a Mazda sports car:
“‘I don’t mind that the ride [of the RX-7] is a bit rough; if I wanted a waterbed, I’d have bought a Lincoln!’”


Concerning expectations of judges:
“Our judges are not monks or scientists, but participants in the living stream of our national life, steering the law between the dangers of rigidity on the one hand, and formlessness on the other.”


From a humor columnists visit to North Dakota and Minnesota:
“It’s [Grand Forks, N.D. and East Grand Forks, Minn.] like Paris, Disney World and Las Vegas all rolled into one, minus the hotels, restaurants, attractions, the Louvre, etc.”


From a United States Senator concerning his view of a nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court as she sought confirmation:
“‘It is a confirmation, it’s not a coronation.’”


So, as you can see, negated metaphors perform negation on a wild array of items (ranging from waterbeds to royal ceremonies, from revolving doors to poorly configured garments).  Equally fascinating is the range of means of accomplishing the negated comparison (from direct negation, e.g., “not monks” to tongue-in-cheek subtractions from prior asserted connections, e.g., “Paris minus the Louvre”).

Folk Metaphors

These metaphors, or other non-literal comparisons, sound, look, and act as if each sprang from the age-old wisdom of those who don’t live in the city.


Examples:
From an column addressing how a former president, after a string of defeats, lost a key ally in the Senate when a Senator switched parties:
“There’s no education in the second kick of a mule.”


From the meandering boasts of a famous poker player:
“I’ll knock ‘em all [opponents in a championship poker tournament] off like a dead limb.  These folks is soft butter to me.  Remember, seldom do the lambs slaughter the butcher.”


How a famous jockey could hold racehorses until a final, winning drive to the finish line:
“He could, racetrackers marveled, ‘hold an elephant an inch away from a peanut until time to feed.’”


Concerning anxious stock investors:
They “are as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs.”


From an editorial concerning the propriety of public prayer prior to football games in Texas:
I’m as “confused as a goat on AstroTurf.”

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For more on folk comparisons see Appendix 2 in Metaphors and Beyond: The Guide.

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