Metaphor Posted Tue, 27 Sep 2005

I was talking to Eben Moglen a couple days ago. In addition to saying many insightful and inspirational things, Eben used the word "physical" metaphorically.

I am looking for suggestions on sensible way to use the word "metaphor" metaphorically.

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[student infron of the blackboard, dragged by teacher mode]Um.. it's, you can say.., methaphorically.. like in this sentence: is this. Umm.

Sit down, F.
Posted by opi at Mon Oct 3 04:30:53 2005
What you're looking for, it's like a metaphor.  No wait, that's a simile.
Posted by cnygard at Mon Oct 3 08:35:06 2005
I recall that Antonin Artaud used the word "literal" metaphorically, saying that some phenomenon or other  -- Culture, say -- "literally hit you on the head with a hammer".  An intensifying gesture, using a metaphor that refuses to accept just being a metaphor.
Posted by Jacob Smullyan at Mon Oct 3 08:57:15 2005
"The application uses the URL as a metaphor for a filehandle."

"Autoimmune disorders erase the immune system's metaphorical understanding of the body as Self."

Any information-processing system that relies on analogous pattern-matching can be said to rely on "metaphors", or signifiers whose signification relies on the homology of their structure to the significant. Or something. (Except that if I define "metaphor" that way, my use of it in the two preceding sentences ceases to be metaphorical and becomes literal. Hmm. I need a dictionary and a semiotician, stat!)
Posted by Matt Norwood at Mon Oct 3 14:40:56 2005

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