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metaphor

oratory

rhetoric

one-liner

symbolism

Moby Dick

is, in fact, astonishingly precise. Nothing is as exact as an apt metaphor.

The truth is, metaphor is astonishingly precise. Nothing is as exact as an apt metaphor. Even the most mundane metaphors contain finely detailed descriptions, hidden deposits of knowledge that a quick dig into a word's etymology will turn up.

is 'the way human beings consolidate and extend their ideas about themselves, their relationships and their knowledge of the world.

For Cameron & Low, metaphor is 'the way human beings consolidate and extend their ideas about themselves, their relationships and their knowledge of the world'' (Cameron & Low l 999b:xii).

is a fossil that indicates an archaic stratum of the trial of theoretical curiosity.

metaphors are fossils that indicate an archaic stratum of the trial of theoretical curiositya stratum that is not rendered anachronistic just because there is no way back to the fullness of its stimulations and expectations of truth. (blumenberg 1997 : 82)

is a linguistic hand-'me-'down in that it represents meaning passed on from an old word to a new thing.

The terminology fits well with the etymology of the word 'metaphor' itself. Derived from the Greek roots meta (over, across, or beyond) and phor (to carry), the literal meaning of metaphor is 'to carry across.' A metaphor carries across a name from the source to the target. Rhetoricians throughout history have recognized metaphors as linguistic hand-'me-'downs, meanings passed on from an old word to a new thing.

In this passage it becomes clear that for Hobbes metaphor may actually be a kind of threat to the political status quo. This should at least alert us to the possibility that metaphors play a very important role in political life.

is a transparent veil that permits us to see what it covers.

Condillac : 'Metaphors are transparent veils that permit us to see what they cover, or the costumes beneath which we recognize the person masked (derrida 'purveyor of truth' : 34)

is a way of thought long before it is a way with words, influencing our attitudes, beliefs, and actions in surprising, hidden, and often oddball ways.

Metaphor is a way of thought long before it is a way with words. Our understanding of metaphor is in the midst of a metamorphosis. For centuries, metaphor has been seen as a kind of cognitive frill, a pleasant but essentially useless embellishment to 'normal' thought. Now, the frill is gone. New research in the social and cognitive sciences makes it increasingly plain that metaphorical thinking influences our attitudes, beliefs, and actions in surprising, hidden, and often oddball ways. Metaphor has finally leapt off the page and landed with a mighty splash right in the middle of our stream of consciousness. The waves rippling out from that impact are only just beginning to reach us.

is an abuse of speech and the the use of metaphor is a kind of lying.

In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes classified metaphor as one of the 'abuses of speech28' and accused people of lying when they 'use words metaphorically29... that is, in other sense than that they are ordained for... and thereby deceive others . . . Reasoning upon [metaphor]30 is wandering amongst innumerable absurdities... and their end, contention and sedition, or contempt.'

metaphor, n.One-Liners

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