Metaphor: Mind's Mistake
Anne Carson says, in "Essay On What I Think About Most", "Aristotle says that metaphor causes the mind to experience itself // in the act of making a mistake." (I can't find the original quote -- anyone know it?)
I like the idea whether it came from Carson or Aristotle. Someone back in the days of neighborhood carpentry comes across a problem and temporarily mistakes for another difficult problem he faces: wayward nails. For a moment in his mind, the two conflate, and the metaphor is born.
It sounds good so he shares it at the pub. The people listening immediately get it. They think about and use it later. Other people hear and like. Now it's a metaphorical meme.
But its memological success is its undoing: it gets flabby, overused, until people have stopped even using nails in their everyday life. Weakened, it cannot stand challenges by new-fangled language. It's a cliche.
So people stop using it and it dies (but soft!). Centuries later, some doctoral student in etymology discovers the obscure phrase in some source material, researches its meaning, and thinks, what an amazing metaphor! I must translate this into Mandarino!.
Cheers,
Scott
|