Mixed Metaphors
The other day I suddenly asked myself if the metaphor I was about to use was ‘age appropriate.’
Before electrification could a thing be shocking? Or did the concept of static electricity make that metaphor common thousands of years ago? When we make a connection with someone are we stating a concept that only arose with telephones?
And along those lines, when did skies become steely? Did the color have that name before the metal was first made?
The more I thought about it the more I wondered if many of our metaphors have in fact been in place for millennia, even as technology progressed, matching words with different meanings. For some metaphors there are surely old roots, for others I suspect the modern age fostered new expressions.
The idea makes me grind my teeth. When writing about the past I have to remind myself to pay attention to the metaphor as it mixes with time.
Amy
Before electrification could a thing be shocking? Or did the concept of static electricity make that metaphor common thousands of years ago? When we make a connection with someone are we stating a concept that only arose with telephones?
And along those lines, when did skies become steely? Did the color have that name before the metal was first made?
The more I thought about it the more I wondered if many of our metaphors have in fact been in place for millennia, even as technology progressed, matching words with different meanings. For some metaphors there are surely old roots, for others I suspect the modern age fostered new expressions.
The idea makes me grind my teeth. When writing about the past I have to remind myself to pay attention to the metaphor as it mixes with time.
Amy
posted by Seven Authors in A Private Conversation at 9:32 AM
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