Dead metaphor

A dead metaphor is a metaphor which has lost the original imagery of its meaning due to extensive, repetitive popular usage. Because dead metaphors have a conventional meaning that differs from the original, they can be understood without knowing their earlier connotation. Dead metaphors are generally the result of a semantic shift in the evolution of a language.^[1] A distinction is often made between those dead metaphors whose origins are entirely unknown to the majority of people using them (such as the expression "to kick the bucket") and those whose source is widely known or symbolism easily understood but not often thought about (the idea of "falling in love").

There is debate among literary scholars whether so-called "dead metaphors" are dead or are metaphors. Literary scholar R.W. Gibbs noted that for a metaphor to be dead, it would necessarily lose the metaphorical qualities that it comprises. These qualities, however, still remain. A person can understand the expression "falling head-over-heels in love" even if they have never encountered that variant of the phrase "falling in love." Analytic philosopher Max Black argued that the dead metaphor should not be considered a metaphor at all, but rather classified as a separate vocabulary item.^[2] If the verb "to plough" retained the simple meaning of "to turn up the earth with a plow," then the idea of a car "ploughing through traffic" would clearly be a metaphor. The expression would be a comparison between the motion of the plow cutting through the soil and a car speeding through traffic. In order to understand it, one would need to grasp the comparison. However, "to plough" has taken on an additional meaning of "to move in a fast and uncontrolled manner," and so to say that a car "ploughed through the traffic" is a literal statement. No knowledge of the original metaphorical symbolism is necessary to understanding the statement.

Examples

There are many examples of dead metaphors in the English language. A brief list of examples is given below.

• flowerbed
• head teacher
• forerunner
• to run for office
• to lose face
• to lend a hand
• to broadcast
• pilot -- originally meant the rudder of a boat.
• flair -- originally meant a sweet smell.
• a computer mouse
• fishing for compliments
• seeds of doubt
• catch her name
• world wide web
• tulip -- originally meant the eastern headdress, the turban.
• turn-on
• flared jeans
• he ploughed through the traffic lights
• foothills or the foot of a mountain
• brow of the hill
• branches of government
• windfall gain
• fly
• kidney beans
• "nightfall" - originally from the growing shade under an object which occurs when the object is dropped or falling
• The Body of an essay- originally connected to human anatomy

References

1. ^ Pawelec, Andrzej. "The Death of Metaphor" (PDF). http://www.filg.uj.edu.pl/StudiaLinguistica/pdf/12308-Pawelec.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-08. 
2. ^ Travers, Michael David (1996-06). "Programming with Agents". Massachusetts Institute of Technology. http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~mt/thesis/mt-thesis.html. Retrieved 2009-12-08. 

External links

• Metaphor and Meaning, an article by William Grey, a Reader in Philosophy at the University of Queensland

This linguistics article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Linguistics stubs Metaphors by type Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР Bonsal, North Carolina Trophimus of Arles Look at other dictionaries: dead metaphor — noun a metaphor that has occurred so often that it has become a new meaning of the expression (e.g., he is a snake may once have been a metaphor but after years of use it has died and become a new sense of the word snake ) • Syn: ↑frozen metaphor …   Useful english dictionary dead metaphor — noun A former metaphor which has in effect lost its metaphorical status and become literal, e.g. electric current (electricity was at first thought to be analogous to water). Not to be confused with stale metaphor (a type of cliché), although it… …   Wiktionary dead metaphor — noun Date: 1922 a word or phrase (as time is running out) that has lost its metaphoric force through common usage …   New Collegiate Dictionary Metaphor — This article is about the figure of speech. For other uses, see Metaphor (disambiguation). A political cartoon from an 1894 Puck magazine by illustrator S.D. Ehrhart, shows a farm woman labeled Democratic Party sheltering from a tornado of… …   Wikipedia Dead Ringers (comedy) — Dead Ringers Dead Ringers Title Card Genre Comedy Format Sketch show Created by …   Wikipedia Dead Artist Syndrome — Brian Healy Background information Also known as D.A.S. Origin Orange County …   Wikipedia metaphor — metaphorical /met euh fawr i keuhl, for /, metaphoric, adj. metaphorically, adv. metaphoricalness, n. /met euh fawr , feuhr/, n. 1. a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in… …   Universalium Dead Man — Filmdaten Deutscher Titel Dead Man Produktionsland USA, Japan, Deutschland …   Deutsch Wikipedia Dead on arrival — For other uses, see Dead on arrival (disambiguation). Dead on arrival or D.O.A. (also dead in the field) is a term used to indicate that a patient was found to be already clinically dead upon the arrival of professional medical assistance, often… …   Wikipedia metaphor — The most important figure of speech, in which one subject matter (sometimes called the tenor) is referred to by a term or sentence (the vehicle) that does not literally describe it: the ship of state, the light of faith, etc. Philosophical… …   Philosophy dictionary 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”