Published on 12, July, 2020
I love a mixed metaphor!I gather that some autistic people can struggle with metaphors because they take them literally. Personally, I do tend to get them, but I always think of the literal sense when I hear one, as I'm always analysing language. It tickles me when people squash two metaphors together to create an absurd image. A couple of examples...Teething troubles in the literal sense are what babies go through when their first teeth are on the verge of breaking through. Metaphorically it means any problem in the early stages of a project or similar. Now you can "iron out" problems - as you might iron out wrinkles in a sheet. It grates with me, though, if someone talks about "ironing out teething troubles". You want to keep that household equipment well away from the infant's face!This morning I found myself formulating the phrase: the house of cards is falling down around my ears. Another nonsensical image.Would anyone care to add more nonsense?
The one that is deliberate and always makes me laugh is "It's hardly rocket surgery" (Which reminds me of when the Space-X rockets were failing and people would say as a joke - "It's not rocket science!")
A friend of mine in the early 90s said to me "We'll cross that bridge as we burn it." It was really apt, for reasons that I can't explain. I emailed a famous cartoonist with it, and he used it without emailing me back - the cheek!
Nice thread!