Communicating with Metaphors, page 7

Complex Metaphors

A complex metaphor is one in which the vehicle is itself a metaphor. This means that one metaphor has been piled on top of another. For example: “That throws some light on the subject.” To “throw some light,” the vehicle of the metaphor, is itself a metaphor since light is not literally thrown.

Click here to practice using a complex metaphor.

Compound Metaphors

A compound metaphor is one in which the ground involves multiple points of similarity between the tenor and the vehicle. For example, the ironic comment “And pigs will fly!” implies that the implicit tenor won’t get off the ground, or work, and also is porcine, swine-like, and may be guilty of the sin of gluttony.

Click here to practice using a compound metaphor.

Dead Metaphors

A dead metaphor is one in which the meaning of the vehicle has been lost. For example, “the growth of the economy” is a dead metaphor. The term “growth” may once have applied only to living things, but it now simply means that something is getting larger. So “the growth of the economy” is no longer a metaphoric phrase, but has rather become, as the usage of language has changed over time, literal: people think of the economy as growing or shrinking.

Implicit Metaphors

An implicit metaphor is one in which the tenor is implicit rather than explicit. Thus “And pigs will fly!” is not only a compound metaphor, it is an implicit one as well.

Mixed Metaphors

A mixed metaphor is one that leaps from one subject to another that is not really consistent with the first. The problem with a mixed metaphor is that it is not self-consistent.

Mixed metaphors are usually perceived as pretty oddball, often verging on the infelicitous malapropism, or a ridiculous mishmash of words.

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