Communicating with Metaphors, page 8

Types of Metaphors, continued

For a somewhat comical example of a number of mixed metaphors, consider the following interview with Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, a publicly traded company that rents DVD movies to consumers:

Q: How were you able to rise out of the ashes of the internet burst:

A: I had run a successful public company before, so I wasn't as susceptible, perhaps, of fueling the fire with fumes. So we stuck to our knitting, and I would say that we never went into the ashes. We steadily progressed as the bubble went on and then when the bubble crashed we just kept steadily progressing.

Unless intended to be funny, or used for comic emphasis, mixed metaphors should be avoided.

President George W. Bush has become so well known for his malapropisms that the term Bushisms has begun to be used synonymously with malapropism. Here, then, are a few infelicitous Bushisms :

• "It will take time to restore chaos and order."

• "They have miscalculated me as a leader."

• "The law I sign today directs new funds... to the task of collecting vital intelligence... on weapons of mass production."

• "We are making steadfast progress."

Click here to practice using a mixed metaphor.

Root Metaphors

A root metaphor is one that is pervasive in our culture. Most literate people within the culture will recognize this kind of metaphor. A good example is the thread or cord spun by the Greek fates. Arguably, the concept of a single deity common to the Judeo-Christian culture is a root metaphor.

One example of a root metaphor is the vehicle grains of sand, used to mean a large or infinite quantity:

The soldiers in the army were as numerous as the grains of sand at the sea.

As you may know, a Trojan horse virus is a computer program that seems innocent but opens a back door for attacks. Using metaphor, it is named after the wooden horse left by the walls of Troy as a “gift.” The wooden horse, of course, carried a destructive payload in the form of Greek soldiers. When the purported gift was brought into Troy, the hidden soldiers were able to open the gates of the city to their compatriots, thus insuring the destruction of the city and engendering a root metaphoric aphorism that has come down to us thousands of years later: “Beware of Greeks bringing gifts.”

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