List of Metaphors and Meaning:
- He is a pig
- The assumption is that the person being called a pig may be dirty, a glutton, or lacks morality. This is obviously a comparison to something terrible and brings with its negative connotations.
- Know the ropes
- Someone who knows the ropes is someone who knows what they are doing. A cashier who works at a grocery store would be considered to know the ropes if they know all the PLU codes, are fast, and knowledgeable about their job.
- Love is a battlefield
- Love is difficult and challenging and sometimes people may get hurt. When people here this metaphor
- Time is money
- The time you spend doing nothing is bad because it could be time spent making money. The hours we aren’t doing something are the hours that we are losing money. People at work usually say this to tell their employees to get to work.
- Don’t leave me high and dry
- The assumption for this metaphor is that if someone is left “high and dry” that means that they are being left in a difficult situation. Someone is usually left high and dry by another individual.
- He’s a night owl
- A night owl is someone who is more productive at night. This person generally likes to stay up late and feels that they can get more accomplished.
- Drain the swamp
- Draining the swamp is a political statement usually used in Washington. It refers to the draining of a swamp to get rid of mosquitos, the mosquitos being political corruptness.
- Money is freedom
- The more money you have, the freer you’ll be. If you have money you will be able to buy more things and have a better life.
- Hit the hay
- This is an obvious one; someone who is “hitting the hay” is someone who is going to sleep.
- This place is a dump
- This phrase usually comes from your mom or another parent figure. A place, or room for that matter, is not an actual dump. It just needs to be cleaned.
A quote from Hickey about metaphors that I found interesting is, “additionally, a metaphor can be stretched only so far until the correspondences between two phenomena collapse. If that were not so, one thing would actually be the other” (Hickey 1-2). I will be choosing to explore metaphors two, three, and four in a more literal way.
To know the ropes is a phrase is something that sailors used, which based on a quick internet search, was derived during the 1800’s. I can picture Captain Ahab telling this to Ishmael on the infamous Pequod. When telling this to someone, you can invasion being on a ship (possibly a whaling vessel from the 1800’s?) and pulling on a rope to hoist the sales. I wasn’t sure where the metaphor was derived from, so I had to look it up. I also wasn’t sure if it was a reference used for boats and ships, so I had to look that up as well. However, I knew that “knowing the ropes” meant experience and knowledge. It’s interesting to note that I wasn’t sure of the literal meaning, but I knew the metaphorical meaning.
The third metaphor I chose was that love is a battlefield. Thanks, Pat Benatar. If love truly was a battle field, then no one would be together, and those who tried to would end up dying. The meaning of the metaphor is that love is tough. It can be difficult and people may get hurt along the way. The image associated with this metaphor would be a war-torn field. One that has experienced bombings and people dying. Thankfully love being a battle field isn’t literal.
Finally, the fourth metaphor on my list was “time is money.” If this were true then we’d all be rich. I think this metaphor persuades people because in our country sting and relaxing may make someone uneasy. Someone might feel that doing nothing is losing them money. Whenever I hear this, I think of someone sitting and watching the seconds tick by on a clock. They get nervous because of the money they are losing while sitting there. I think this goes along with the types of people that the United States consists of: we hate to water. We want everything now and we don’t want to wait.
Image from: https://wallpapersafari.com/old-ship-wallpaper/
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