Even the New York Times has its metaphor woes

by lizlet March 10, 2009

From this week’s After Deadline (my favorite NYtimes.com feature):

My colleague Adam Bryant, an editor in Business, notes that business writers tend to reach for metaphors to try to make complicated aspects of finance and economic policy more accessible. It’s the right instinct, but as Adam says, problems can arise when we mix and match metaphors in a single sentence or paragraph.

In recent weeks, we have printed sentences about …

… a stew of programs, some with warts and all.

… assets that are hanging over a bank and need to be purged.

… acquisitions that are absorbed and then molded into a giant.

… unplugging a stoppage by shoring up something.

You get the idea.
by bronwynlewis March 6, 2009
meganwest: Regardless, all of the photo research that this article required brought me to my new favorite game that I’d love to share with you. It’s called “Nicolas Cage.” Unlike my associate, Gladstone’s game, this one isn’t complicated or Facebook-related (also, it’s fun). Here’s how you play: Step 1: Get a screengrab from a Nicolas Cage movie. Doesn’t matter what movie or how much facial hair Nicolas Cage has. Step 2: Think of a line of dialogue, [Two Sentence Maximum] for Nicolas Cage. This line must, in your opinion (A) sum up the movie and (B) be just retarded enough that it might actually be a real line from a Nicolas Cage film. Step 3: Superimpose that line over the picture. Step 4: That is the entire game. [link] Not only is this an excellent game, but Gone in 60 Seconds is AWESOME (and by awesome, I mean awful) when it comes to the whole stealing cars/sex metaphor. Click here for the best clip from the movie.

meganwest:

Regardless, all of the photo research that this article required brought me to my new favorite game that I’d love to share with you. It’s called “Nicolas Cage.” Unlike my associate, Gladstone’s game, this one isn’t complicated or Facebook-related (also, it’s fun).

Here’s how you play:

Step 1: Get a screengrab from a Nicolas Cage movie. Doesn’t matter what movie or how much facial hair Nicolas Cage has.

Step 2: Think of a line of dialogue, [Two Sentence Maximum] for Nicolas Cage. This line must, in your opinion (A) sum up the movie and (B) be just retarded enough that it might actually be a real line from a Nicolas Cage film.

Step 3: Superimpose that line over the picture.

Step 4: That is the entire game.

[link]

Not only is this an excellent game, but Gone in 60 Seconds is AWESOME (and by awesome, I mean awful) when it comes to the whole stealing cars/sex metaphor. Click here for the best clip from the movie.

by factsarenothing March 6, 2009
I haven’t read the book, so I couldn’t possible know what they’re trying to say with the cover.

I haven’t read the book, so I couldn’t possible know what they’re trying to say with the cover.

by factsarenothing March 5, 2009
What Dreams May Come - The Hunt For The Worst Movie Of All Time - Videogum

When Robin Williams dies, he actually runs down a TUNNEL towards a LIGHT. Get it? That’s how you get to heaven, dummy.
Bless Videogum, doing the good work of pointing out the best metaphors so I don’t have to suffer through that movie again to bring them to you. There’s something very meta about that, too.

by lizlet March 5, 2009
The first two X-Men movies, directed by openly gay Bryan Singer, are pretty explicit about the concept of mutant powers being a metaphor for homosexuality. Then Brett Ratner took over the X-Men universe. And Rogue, along with several other mutants, took the mutant cure. This isn’t a bad metaphor. This is a fucked one.

The first two X-Men movies, directed by openly gay Bryan Singer, are pretty explicit about the concept of mutant powers being a metaphor for homosexuality.

Then Brett Ratner took over the X-Men universe.

And Rogue, along with several other mutants, took the mutant cure.

This isn’t a bad metaphor. This is a fucked one.

by bronwynlewis March 4, 2009

We say something has “jumped the shark” when it passes its peak (and often, when it’s reached the oh-dear-god-please-put-it-out-of-its-misery stage). Why?

Because the Fonz literally jumped a shark, and that was the end of Happy Days.

by lizlet March 4, 2009
Megan makes a fine point regarding the anti-metaphor. So I have provided an additional example.

Megan makes a fine point regarding the anti-metaphor. So I have provided an additional example.

by meganwest March 4, 2009
My brother enjoys the conceit of this blog but emailed me with a suggestion: feature an anti-metaphor. A non-metaphor example would be, as they say, ”instructive,” no?This is not a metaphor. Or, perhaps, it functions as a metaphor for The Treachery of Images. Or an image of the treason of images?Ouch. I don’t know. But really it’s just a semiotic fart.

My brother enjoys the conceit of this blog but emailed me with a suggestion: feature an anti-metaphor.

A non-metaphor example would be, as they say, ”instructive,” no?

This is not a metaphor. Or, perhaps, it functions as a metaphor for The Treachery of Images. Or an image of the treason of images?

Ouch. I don’t know. But really it’s just a semiotic fart.
by factsarenothing March 3, 2009
Mary Shelley’s monster. A mascot for the metaphor, maybe, but don’t hold it against Mary. She wrote her Frankenstein as a campfire story, on a bet from two of the most immature boys in British literature, Lord Byron and her husband, Percy. She knew her audience. I once had an English professor tell me, “The monster stands for many different things.” There. Now you don’t have to waste four years in university.

Mary Shelley’s monster. A mascot for the metaphor, maybe, but don’t hold it against Mary. She wrote her Frankenstein as a campfire story, on a bet from two of the most immature boys in British literature, Lord Byron and her husband, Percy. She knew her audience.

I once had an English professor tell me, “The monster stands for many different things.” There. Now you don’t have to waste four years in university.

by meganwest March 3, 2009
To me, there’s nothing freer than a bird, you know, just flying wherever he wants to go. And, I don’t know, that’s what this country is all about, being free. I think everyone wants to be a free bird.

Ronnie Van Zant, spoken during an interview while fishing.

‘Cause we needed clarification on birds being free.

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