I apologize in advance, as this is one of those somewhat subtle, hard to explain things which, unless you’ve encountered it yourself, will likely not make much sense. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure, it will also be one of those things where, if you know, you know. My hope is that some of you, you know, know.
Quite some time ago I came across a small group of people who introduced this metaphor to me in a rather dramatic fashion. The idea being that “ice cream” served as a metaphor for a real “aha!” moment, or perhaps as a religious or spiritual awakening or some such. The sort of thing that has you excited and beaming, like a little kid with their mouth happily smeared with ice cream. Something like that seemed to be the point, although what, exactly, they were getting at eluded me.
A la Baader-Meinhof, once I learned that this was a thing, I noticed it a few times shortly thereafter being referenced by various people. Which tells me this metaphor was not isolated to just that first small group.
Is it from a movie or something that I missed? Or perhaps like one of those NLP stories that gets passed around the motivational speaker circuit? Maybe it has a religious context, like a parable favored amongst a certain denomination, or even some Scientology “tech” that’s escaped into the wild?
I always figured I’d eventually stumble upon the source somehow, or I might have been motivated to ask my questions directly at the time. Alas.
I’ve never heard of it either, and when I googled “ice cream metaphor”, I got quite a few of them, but none matching the awakening you describe. I’ll look for it now though!
I’m not quite sure of what you’re asking, but I am confident that I cannot answer your question satisfactorily, regardless.
Allow me to, instead, apologize again. I don’t know how to make this make sense to someone who isn’t already familiar with the metaphor (i.e. has even less knowledge about the metaphor and the intended meaning behind it than I have).
I doubt that’s the source of the metaphor, but it is rather apropos.
Like how would it be used in a sentence? Or conversation? Is this like in a set phrase like “ice cream moment” or something else? (Clearly, I am unfamiliar with it.)
I’m asking if you have any examples. Do you have any examples of:
I certainly doesn’t help that you can’t even narrow down for us what ice cream is a metaphor for, let alone give examples, even as you say you “noticed it a few times shortly thereafter being referenced by various people.”
Like, okay, what were some of these things you noticed? We’re people literally saying “I just had an ice cream moment!” or what? Because on the one time it’s like you’re seeing it all over the place, but on the other… you haven’t really made clear what exactly “it” is that you’re seeing (or for that matter if it’s about having an “aha” moment, or a religious or aperitivo awakening, or “some such thing”).
You’ve given us nothing at all to work with except ask if ice cream stands for… something? and, if so, what the origin of that really specific but entirely vague and ambiguous (as of yet) metaphor is.
Like, you’ve asked the ice cream equivalent of “a who was the first person to say… that thing about that guy. You know the one, I mean, he’s the one who said that thing about that guy. Did he really say it?”
To be clear, I’m asking if anyone knows where this metaphor comes from. Of course, I would appreciate any further explication from those who are familiar with it, including what it means to them.
Again, I apologize. If you were familiar with the metaphor, what I’ve said in the OP would be more than enough for you to recognize what I’m referring to.
Everything the OP has said in the thread is borderline incoherent to me. Not terms I’ve ever heard, not ideas I’ve ever heard, etc.
I’m not competent to say whether that’s because I’m an ignorant doofus, or he is, or he and I are just fine, but we each grew up in different eras in different parts of the USA.
But for sure to this particular guy, all of the OP’s story is incomprehensible bunk.
This is slightly annoying because I get the gist of what the OP is saying and there is definitely some little bell ringing at the back of my head.
I can’t put my finger on it though.
The concept of something being so good that it is completely eye-opening for you seems to be uncontroversial but attaching that to ice-cream? Yes, I see it but I can’t for certain say if it actually is a thing.
Might it be a film or TV reference of some type? You know, the deprived child who has never known luxury being given the sweet wonders of ice-cream for the first time?
Okay I tried to edit and made a mess of things. Here’s a short clip from the article I linked to in my previous post:
That got me thinking about an idea that has evolved into the concept of Ice Cream Moments. What if we looked for those moments in life when if we don’t give them our full attention they will just melt away? How would we differently choose to treat our time, friends, loved ones? What more could we get from our experiences if we made them our singular focus and enjoyed every moment before they melt?
I don’t think that article is in line with what these people seemed to be aiming for with their metaphor. I liked it on its own merits, though, and appreciate the effort. Thanks!
This is more like what I understood the metaphor to be about, yes. I was figuring that it must be “a thing”, and that some 'doper here would recognize it and be able to nail down its origins and maybe even explain its context.
I have wondered if this weird “ice cream metaphor” has a religious context because it reminds me of the concept of “being on fire” - when I first encountered that metaphor I was confused, but it was quickly explained that it refers to those people who have newly converted (say, to evangelical Christianity) and are therefore overzealous, or “hot-headed”, and act as if someone “lit a fire under them” when it comes to promoting their new-found faith. Before receiving the explanation, that metaphor seemed weird and nonsensical, although it was clearly something that made sense to other people for whom “being on fire” was “a thing”.
But can you give us a concrete example of HOW this metaphor was used in conversation? It would help immensely. Like, if someone asks me for examples of how a metaphorical “lightbulb” might be used in conversation, I can give dozens, like “a lightbulb went off in my head when I read that” or “Sally had a lightbulb moment”, etc. How is “ice cream” used? Just give us words or approximate words from one of these conversations you recently had or places you’ve heard the metaphor used.