6 ms·

I get to swing for the fences Ah, sports metaphors. I consider it to be lower on the language scale than excessive swearing, in terms of limited vocabulary.

I get to swing for the fences Ah, sports metaphors. I consider it to be lower on the language scale than excessive swearing, in terms of limited vocabulary. At least swearing can be used to humorous or vaguely poetic effect.

jswinghammer 15y ago
Why would you say that? Do believe yourself to be above sports or the people who enjoy sports? If I were to fault that metaphor for anything it would be that it has become cliche at this point.
- georgieporgie 15y ago
  1) It's cliché. 2) It's confusing to non-native speakers. 3) It's confusing to native speakers, too. 4) Baseball has nothing to do with the subject at hand. 5) It reeks of inaccurate, droning marketing-speak. 6) It cheapens the industry to resort of sports-derived metaphors.
- AlecSchueler 15y ago
  While I have nothing against sports metaphors myself, one drawback that I can see is that people unfamiliar with the particular sport might not be able to understand them. Indeed, I'll admit that I'm completely ignorant of baseball and do not know what "swinging for the fences" means. In fact, I only know that this was a baseball reference because of another comment.
petercooper 15y ago
lower on the language scale Ah, climbing metaphors ;-) scale: "to climb," late 14c., from L. scala, from scandere "to climb". This is also the source (perhaps via It. scala) of the noun in the musical sense. I admit, I'm stretching a point here, but when in Rome..
- georgieporgie 15y ago
  How does noun 'scale' imply climbing? How does "swing for the fences" not imply baseball?
  - petercooper 15y ago
    I said I was stretching but the etymology of the term "scale" seemed to go back to either "cup" (and eventually the weights and measures sense of the term), "skin plates on fish or snakes" or "climb" (which also led to the musical definition). Ranking things on a "scale" seems, to me, to derive from the latter root meaning. I was stretching it, sure, but responding to someone picking a hole in someone's legitimate usage of a metaphor seemed like a great time to be a little jocular!
    - georgieporgie 15y ago
      I don't understand. You're either saying that "scale" is a sports metaphor, which it isn't, or that all words in the English language are metaphors, which they aren't.
oflannabhra 15y ago
Wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the grammar bed. I'm glad he went the whole nine yards with his explanation; too bad you swallowed that one phrase hook, line, and sinker.
- georgieporgie 15y ago
  I did not take issue with his grammar. Nor am I going to rise to your trollish second paragraph.
mthreat 15y ago
I've heard "swing for the fences" many times in the context of startup companies. Fred Wilson (A VC) has a blog post entitled "Swinging for the Fences" that talks about it - http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/10/swinging-for-the-fences.html http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/10/swinging-for-the-fences.html
shaug 15y ago
I was the primary developer of Sparkbuy. Dan is one of the most sports-ignorant males I've ever known. I'm just proud he used the term correctly.
- georgieporgie 15y ago
  ..Making the sports metaphor usage all the more silly. So he used the term correctly? What does the term even mean? Swing for the fences? So he gets to 'swing' really hard? Or does that mean he gets 'thrown' 'balls' 'softly' enough that he's able to finally 'hit' them 'far'? Is he taking steroids, or their computational or business equivalent?

jswinghammer 15y ago

Why would you say that? Do believe yourself to be above sports or the people who enjoy sports? If I were to fault that metaphor for anything it would be that it has become cliche at this point.

georgieporgie 15y ago
1) It's cliché. 2) It's confusing to non-native speakers. 3) It's confusing to native speakers, too. 4) Baseball has nothing to do with the subject at hand. 5) It reeks of inaccurate, droning marketing-speak. 6) It cheapens the industry to resort of sports-derived metaphors.
AlecSchueler 15y ago
While I have nothing against sports metaphors myself, one drawback that I can see is that people unfamiliar with the particular sport might not be able to understand them. Indeed, I'll admit that I'm completely ignorant of baseball and do not know what "swinging for the fences" means. In fact, I only know that this was a baseball reference because of another comment.

petercooper 15y ago

lower on the language scale Ah, climbing metaphors ;-) scale: "to climb," late 14c., from L. scala, from scandere "to climb". This is also the source (perhaps via It. scala) of the noun in the musical sense. I admit, I'm stretching a point here, but when in Rome..

georgieporgie 15y ago
How does noun 'scale' imply climbing? How does "swing for the fences" not imply baseball?
- petercooper 15y ago
  I said I was stretching but the etymology of the term "scale" seemed to go back to either "cup" (and eventually the weights and measures sense of the term), "skin plates on fish or snakes" or "climb" (which also led to the musical definition). Ranking things on a "scale" seems, to me, to derive from the latter root meaning. I was stretching it, sure, but responding to someone picking a hole in someone's legitimate usage of a metaphor seemed like a great time to be a little jocular!
  - georgieporgie 15y ago
    I don't understand. You're either saying that "scale" is a sports metaphor, which it isn't, or that all words in the English language are metaphors, which they aren't.

oflannabhra 15y ago

Wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the grammar bed. I'm glad he went the whole nine yards with his explanation; too bad you swallowed that one phrase hook, line, and sinker.

georgieporgie 15y ago
I did not take issue with his grammar. Nor am I going to rise to your trollish second paragraph.

mthreat 15y ago

I've heard "swing for the fences" many times in the context of startup companies. Fred Wilson (A VC) has a blog post entitled "Swinging for the Fences" that talks about it - http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/10/swinging-for-the-fences.html http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/10/swinging-for-the-fences.html

shaug 15y ago

I was the primary developer of Sparkbuy. Dan is one of the most sports-ignorant males I've ever known. I'm just proud he used the term correctly.

georgieporgie 15y ago
..Making the sports metaphor usage all the more silly. So he used the term correctly? What does the term even mean? Swing for the fences? So he gets to 'swing' really hard? Or does that mean he gets 'thrown' 'balls' 'softly' enough that he's able to finally 'hit' them 'far'? Is he taking steroids, or their computational or business equivalent?