Metaphor, Simile, and the Exaggeration of Likeness.
This article reveals an overlooked way of interpreting sentences like“The Internet is crack [cocaine]”or“Libraries are supermarkets.”Many existing theories of metaphor could apply here. However, they can instead be interpreted in alikeness-exaggeratingway, under which“Libraries are supermarkets”is s...
| Published in: | Metaphor & Symbol Vol. 30; no. 1; pp. 41 - 63 |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Jan-Mar2015
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=100071440&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 100071440 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 10926488 7MO jtl: Metaphor & Symbol issn: 10926488 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jan-Mar2015 vid: 30 iid: 1 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 100071440 10.1080/10926488.2015.980692 ppf: 41 ppct: 22 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T db: hlh ui: 100071440 – @attributes: type: P db: hlh ui: 100071440 tig: atl: Metaphor, Simile, and the Exaggeration of Likeness. aug: au: Barnden, John affil: University of Birmingham su: Metaphor Philosophy Figures of speech Simile Hyperbole sug: subj: Metaphor Philosophy Figures of speech Simile Hyperbole ab: This article reveals an overlooked way of interpreting sentences like“The Internet is crack [cocaine]”or“Libraries are supermarkets.”Many existing theories of metaphor could apply here. However, they can instead be interpreted in alikeness-exaggeratingway, under which“Libraries are supermarkets”is simply an exaggerated way of saying that libraries arelike supermarkets to a very high degree.This interpretation option follows from simple, general considerations about exaggeration and likeness scales. In this way it is preferable to the abbreviated-simile view of metaphor, and in any case it can be added to any existing metaphor account. It has broad significance for the theory of metaphor and simile, but also provides a new, straightforward explanation of the special, likeness-strengthening effect in utterances such as“Libraries aren’t merely like supermarkets, they are supermarkets.”This effect exists despite evidence that X-is-Y metaphors do not generally convey more likeness than corresponding similes. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|