Thursday, January 21, 2010

Metaphor Me!

Don't you love metaphors? You know you do. They often give a visual to the reader that cannot be expressed in plain language. They connect us to an event in a story that we could not otherwise experience.

Be careful of Dead Metaphors, otherwise known as clichés, in your writing.

Right as rain.
Raining cats and dogs.
Happy as a clam.
At the end of my rope.
Slept like a log.

Just to name a few. My favorite would have to be the Mixed Metaphor. These crazy phrases hit my love of the ridiculous like a ton of bricks. (cliché alert)

1) He stepped up to the plate, and grabbed the bull by the horn.
2) He is a loose cannon that always goes off the deep end.
3) He often shot his mouth off in the dark.

And my all time favorite mixed metaphor:
"If we can hit that bullseye then the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards... Checkmate."
-Futurama-Zapp Brannigan

See picture:








Interstellar spaceship captains can be lovers of the language too.

Watch the metaphors, and have fun creating new ones.

10 comments:

  1. He also eloquently referred to comets as "the icebergs of the sky." Man, that Zap is one smooth talker.

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  2. Man, I love metaphors. I talk all the time in metaphors and analogies. My friends say I should be a preacher. lol!

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  3. LOL! Sadly, I've probably used a couple of those before. Not lately though...of course (removing all silly cliches and metaphors from MS...now. Done). : )

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  4. Love it! Did you happen to catch Stephanie's post yesterday?--http://hatshepsutnovel.blogspot.com/2010/01/student-analogies-metaphors-final-round.html#comments

    Hilarious!

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  5. L & L: No! I haven't seen her blog before, look what I was missing! Loved those metaphors! Thanks!

    Kimberly, Linguista: I love the oldies too, I can't help it. Sometimes nothing else fits. BTW, my dad was a preacher and we used to dress up and pretend to preach to our dolls, animals, etc.

    CKHB: Love that Zap, I am pretty sure I dated him back in the day.lol

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  6. I'm a metaphor fan too. But yes we need to cut them.

    And it's, "Happy as a clam at high tide." Want to get the full quote in there. I think it's an old New England expression. In New England we dig clams up to eat at low tide. That's why they're happy at high tide.

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  7. Terry, that is great.lol I did not realize, thank you for clarifying the metaphor! I like the longer version better...now I want to use it bad...

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  8. That was an excellent post! Thanks for sharing

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  9. I looove metaphors. What kills me is when I find them sprinkled thoughout my WIP. Those little suckers are sneaky!

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It helps to know I'm not just talking to myself.