# Not sure if I understand metaphor? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 22, 2015, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-sure-if-i-understand-metaphor/738291 "2015-11-22T18:11:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-sure-if-i-understand-metaphor/738291/21 "2015-11-24T03:53:59Z")
> [@Vaevictis](#): > > The example is bullshit as far as I can analyze it. At the campfire, who killed the meat that they need heat to cook? How many people do jobs that are in between the killers of the meat and the eaters of them meat? At the water cooler, I think it is pretty obvious that no one drinking that water had anything to do with making it safe to drink or transporting it to its present location. There are layers and layers of middlemen when it comes to them having that water. It is not like the folks at the fire paid a bunch of taxes to pay a bunch of layers of people that they do not know to get the meat on the fire. Now _this_ is someone who doesn’t understand a metaphor! ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-sure-if-i-understand-metaphor/738291/22 "2015-11-24T04:32:59Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I am not so sure I properly understand metaphors. Well, it’s like this… ---
**Author:** ![Totenfeier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Totenfeier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Totenfeier)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-sure-if-i-understand-metaphor/738291/23 "2015-11-24T16:24:20Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > That works. Elegantly stated. > > Except for all the others? Seriously, what’s better? Pictures are nice, but the bandwidth is less. Maps are lovely, but a proper map carries a lot of extra information, data you don’t actually need. (I don’t need to know all the streets in the neighborhood; I just need to know which streets to take to get to the grocery store.) > > Yes, some concrete forms of communication are more concise. Hitting someone really hard in the face conveys a very succinct message. But without words, your messages are going to be limited to that level of simplicity. > > Try explaining the History of the Reformation using a medium other than words. I didn’t say they were _unnecessary_, I said that they were _inconvenient_. Take your example of the Reformation: could it not be argued that, among the many other sociopolitical facets of that movement, there was a miscommunication regarding the meanings of _words_, as one side read/employed them as opposed to the other? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-sure-if-i-understand-metaphor/738291/24 "2015-11-24T21:51:38Z")
**Totenfeier** : I still dunno. Okay, words aren’t perfect, and we spend a lot of time mushing around with loose connotations… But words can accomplish a hell of a lot, and they have remarkable communicative power. Since nothing in the world has ever been devised that does the job better, it seems strange to condemn the medium. A mind-reading society might make the claim with a real reason, but what reason do we have? We’ve built a global high-tech civilization with words: how cool is that? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-sure-if-i-understand-metaphor/738291/25 "2015-11-24T21:55:28Z")
I read a novel where a character says each of us is a metaphor in the mind of God. I didn’t know whether that was a metaphor. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-sure-if-i-understand-metaphor/738291/26 "2015-11-25T01:55:16Z")
A metaphor is a shadow that reminds you of a friend. It’s an ocean that is bluer than the sky. It’s a caged raven with wings of ink. It’s a dream that you can hold in your hand. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-sure-if-i-understand-metaphor/738291/27 "2015-11-25T02:14:17Z")
Oh! I thought you were talking about chocolate! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-sure-if-i-understand-metaphor/738291.md?page=1)