4 ms·
>Are they really worth $12,580? I hate to be the other obnoxious guy that responds to the self proclaimed obnoxious guy, but I see the quite a bit lately, even
by derekp7 14y ago
>Are they really worth $12,580?
I hate to be the other obnoxious guy that responds to the self proclaimed obnoxious guy, but I see the quite a bit lately, even paraded in XKCD. Is there a significant group of people that absolutely abhors all rhetorical figures of speech? Or is it only specific ones, such as metaphors and hyperbole, with simile being mostly OK? Just curious.
- VexXtreme 14y ago> Is there a significant group of people that absolutely abhors all rhetorical figures of speech? Or is it only specific ones, such as metaphors and hyperbole, with simile being mostly OK? Just curious. In medical circles it would be called "learning disability". On a more serious note though, mocking people who use a lot of metaphors is a good way to try to make yourself look intellectually superior. I see it a lot these days and I find it very passive aggressive. Back in school people making those kinds of comments would be called smartasses and have their asses kicked for using that kind of language.
- CamperBob2 14y agoI've always assumed that the inability to look beyond the literal is some kind of Asperger's symptom, or other autism-spectrum issue. Could be a symptom of being a plain old nitwit, too, but not being a psychologist I wouldn't have any insight to offer beyond that.
- jseliger 14y agoThe deeper I get into writing, and what it means to write well, the harder it is. Reading Martin Amis's The War Against Cliche was a particularly pernicious moment for me. So was Lakoff and Johnson's Metaphors We Live By. I think the question is this: does a rhetorical figure of speech help the reader or writer see the things being compared or figurized in a new way? If the answer is no, then perhaps we should look at those rhetorical things as literal, in order to remind ourselves of the power of rhetoric. I favor metaphors and hyperbole like politicians favor hand-shaking and baby-kissing. But it to be done well.
- noonespecial 14y agoOccasionally I enjoy attempting to communicate entirely with cliches. Its easier than one first imagines. Your own little "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" moment.
- droithomme 14y agoIt's usually Shaka, when the walls fell when I do this.
- biesnecker 14y agoIt's funny how things like this can sit totally dormant in your mind for years and years, and at the first mention everything floods back. And just for a silly ST:TNG reference. Our minds are amazing machines.
- philwelch 14y agoOrwell, "Politics and the English Language", 1946: "By using stale metaphors, similes, and idioms, you save much mental effort, at the cost of leaving your meaning vague, not only for your reader but for yourself. This is the significance of mixed metaphors. The sole aim of a metaphor is to call up a visual image. When these images clash -- as in The Fascist octopus has sung its swan song, the jackboot is thrown into the melting pot -- it can be taken as certain that the writer is not seeing a mental image of the objects he is naming; in other words he is not really thinking. " "Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print."
- jseliger 14y agoThanks! I assign "Politics and the English Language" to my students every semester.
- anthonyb 14y agoIf you can't deal with obnoxious people, you probably shouldn't be using the internet...