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Mon 11 Oct, 2004 09:02 am
What do you think? All opinions are welcome.
What do I think? I quite like speaking in metaphor. Let him who has ears hear and him who has eyes see.
As I remember, Koko the "lower" primate created metaphor.
my favorite star trek next generation was a show called Darmak. it was about a race whose entire language was based upon metaphorical use of its world's history to bring meaning to its language
thus from someone saying "juliet on the balcony" one arrives at "Love"
or from "gilgamesh and enkidu in the forrest" one arrives at "Friendship"
it was a fascinating show.
yet, i think we often confuse metaphor with simile.
"Shaka, when the walls fell." That is my favourite Trek episode as well.
Just to clarify the difference between metaphor and similie: "That man is a fox" is a metaphor while "that man is like a fox" is a simile.
Yes cavfancier, and just to extend your clarification, all similes are metaphors, though not all metaphors are similes, except to say as Aristotle did, that metaphors are similes with the term of comparison left out
.or not, who knows, me?, I don't .
Cav, you say:
"Just to clarify the difference between metaphor and similie: "That man is a fox" is a metaphor while "that man is like a fox" is a simile."
I see all language as meta-metaphor. If that is so, can't we also say "That [while pointing to a member of our species] is a man"?
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Thanks JL. I was hoping to get into that, although I think meta-metaphor, as in 'super' or 'supra' metaphor is a bit redundant, but a fine term indeed.
I'm just thinking out loud here...
Yes, you could. 'Human' would be more accurate in most cases, but not in some, as metaphor.
From Babette Deutch,
Poetry Handbook:
Quote:Language that implies a relationship, of which similarity is a significant feature, between two things and so changes our apprehension of either or both.
"Word play" has essentially the same meaning as "metaphor" but "word play" isn't as high falutin'.
Word play then be the speech of the common folk and the high-falutins all at the same time? That's a good point, regarding how we define not only terms, but how we use them in common speech.
Noddy, "wordplay" is fine, but I wonder if "wordwork"(since the construction of meaning is such is a serious business) might not also be applicable to the way we use language. What I meant earlier by meta-metaphor is that it is almost synynomous with language itself. Every use of a symbol (either in writing or speech) to "stand for" an experience or sensation is wordwork or a general kind of metaphor.
"Wordwork" combined with "wordplay"....perhaps a kernel of an idea?
All word work and no word play--
Inspiration will not stay,
Insightful thoughts begin to stray....
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