A Korean lady I met, several years ago, came to Australia to study English.
This puzzled me at first due to her astounding vocabulary and excellent
pronunciation. But it was not a formal education she sought, but a
colloquial understanding. Her first attempts to gain insight into Australian
English came from the nightly news, of which she understood very little.
Whether considered idioms or metaphors, often interchangeable, one needs
a lot of colloquial exposure to understand the broadcasts.
One example was a thief who was caught red handed. Whether a metaphor
or an idiom is not really an issue; it is an extreme example of what I find
difficult about reading metaphor laden poetry. It was pointed out that
everyone speaks in metaphorical terms, language is a metaphor, and that
everyone can not help but think this way. I tend to agree.
But I also agree that I do not think in a true metaphorical sense because I
usually “don’t get it.” A rose is love – I know this because I have leaned it.
When reading some new association, I find it most difficult to find meaning.
Comments about which part of a train is a metaphor, or if the metaphor is
the driver, becomes so confusing to me that all meaning is lost.
There are many jokes about men having rules relating to direct thought. “It
is possible to answer every question with either a yes or a no,” being one
of my favorites. Perhaps my brain is wired wrong; bypassing some emotive
center. It was said of me during high school, “You’re dirty.” Hours of
confusion passed before I realized it was my clothing that was dirty and
not my mind or body. While this is not a metaphor, it is how literal I view
the world.
I have only met a few people who can relate to that story and each one
agrees that a rose is a rose and love is love unless there is a specific
purpose for a rose meaning love and it is presented in a suitable manner.
The example of the sky being as a grasshopper or something (see, I’ve
forgotten already) is not something I can relate to having never seen such
a green sky or bothered to catch the hue of a flying grasshopper. No
matter the effort, I cannot imagine either as a clear mental image.
To address two of points posed by Janice, it is my opinion that the death
of a metaphor occurs slowly with the passing of those people who had
direct contact with the original source. As mentioned, “Until the cows
come home.” Actually, come to think of it, I have no clear idea what this
actually means! Damn, will look that up soon.
The other point was about person opinions regarding metaphors. While I
cannot truthfully say that I don’t like them, for they do have a place,
provided I can identify them, but I find myself hardly ever using them.
I’d like to know when a metaphor becomes cliché.
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