Semantics: Metaphor

METAPHORS

Metaphor is a figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two unlike things. When what appears to be an anomaly is nevertheless understood in terms of a meaningful concept, the expression becomes a metaphor. Technically, metaphors are anomalous, but the nature of the anomaly creates the salient meanings that metaphors usually have. Metaphors may have a literal meaning as well as their metaphorical meaning.

To interpret a metaphor we need to understand the individual words, the literal meaning of the whole expression, and facts about the world. To understand the metaphor Time is Money it is necessary to know that in our society we are often paid according to the number of hours or days worked. Many expressions now taken literally may have originated as metaphors, such as “the fall of the dollar,” meaning its decline in value on the world market. Many people wouldn’t bat an eyelash (another metaphor) at the literal interpretation of saving or wasting time. Metaphor is one of the factors in language change. Metaphorical use of language is language creativity at its highest.