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I've always grappled with why you call something a "metaphor" if you have no other word to call it. It always seemed to me that metaphor was something you used

by amp108 6y ago

I've always grappled with why you call something a "metaphor" if you have no other word to call it. It always seemed to me that metaphor was something you used instead of the common term for something, for poetic or rhetorical effect; if there is no common term, why does a homonym become a metaphor? For example, what is the non-metaphorical term for the legs of a chair?

the_af 6y ago
I agree with you, but for fun's sake let me try: "The sticks supporting a chair"?
uryga 6y ago
> a metaphor is something you use instead of the common term for something i don't think the "instead" part is strictly necessary, and the chair example is a good showcase for that. animals stand on four legs, and by analogy, we call certain chair parts "legs" too; it's clearly metaphorical in nature, it just also happens to be the "official" term in general i think "metaphorical" is more usefully defined as sth like "re-using your knowledge of thing X to talk about thing Y, by analogy". and you might use a cool metaphor for rhetorical or poetic effect, but they're just a common element of language – see several mentions of Lakoff in other comments for examples.
gen220 6y ago
It is a metaphor in the literal meaning of the word metaphor (i.e. it's a word that "carries many" meanings). To me, prose is a metaphor if it deliberately plays with the double-meaning, or uses it as an analogy to explain an example. "I killed the process" isn't a metaphor to me. "I killed the process, but its life wasn't too exciting anyway, it was just a spin-lock" would be a metaphor. "The server's dropping packets": no metaphor. "The server's dropping packets, and it's made a mess all over the client's carpeting.": metaphor, kinda pushing the utility, though. If you go with the single-word definition, and care at all for etymology, almost everything is a metaphor. It's kind of fun to go on those adventures. Most of the words we use to describe cognition are metaphors for physical activities. "Understand", "Comprehend", "Grasp".

by amp108 6y ago

the_af 6y ago

I agree with you, but for fun's sake let me try: "The sticks supporting a chair"?

uryga 6y ago

> a metaphor is something you use instead of the common term for something i don't think the "instead" part is strictly necessary, and the chair example is a good showcase for that. animals stand on four legs, and by analogy, we call certain chair parts "legs" too; it's clearly metaphorical in nature, it just also happens to be the "official" term in general i think "metaphorical" is more usefully defined as sth like "re-using your knowledge of thing X to talk about thing Y, by analogy". and you might use a cool metaphor for rhetorical or poetic effect, but they're just a common element of language – see several mentions of Lakoff in other comments for examples.

gen220 6y ago

It is a metaphor in the literal meaning of the word metaphor (i.e. it's a word that "carries many" meanings). To me, prose is a metaphor if it deliberately plays with the double-meaning, or uses it as an analogy to explain an example. "I killed the process" isn't a metaphor to me. "I killed the process, but its life wasn't too exciting anyway, it was just a spin-lock" would be a metaphor. "The server's dropping packets": no metaphor. "The server's dropping packets, and it's made a mess all over the client's carpeting.": metaphor, kinda pushing the utility, though. If you go with the single-word definition, and care at all for etymology, almost everything is a metaphor. It's kind of fun to go on those adventures. Most of the words we use to describe cognition are metaphors for physical activities. "Understand", "Comprehend", "Grasp".