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Dead metaphor

Techniques > Use of language > Metaphor > Dead metaphor

Method | Example | Discussion | See also

Description

A dead metaphor occurs where the once-evocative transferred image is no longer effective or even understood, perhaps being lost in the aeons of time.

Example

Fabulous was something worthy of fable. Like many other superlatives, it has lost its original edge and now just means 'good'.

Money was so called because it was first minted at the temple Juno Moneta.

The origin of 'the whole nine yards' seems unknown, even to an expert word website.

Discussion

Dead metaphors are dead in the sense that they no longer act as metaphors -- they just become plain words, with a simple functional meaning. In a sense, this is how language develops. Somebody tries to explain something by making up a word that conjures up an image, and eventually the word becomes a standard in the language, with it's original image being lost or evolved.

In the 'dumbing down' of language, the rich meaning of many words becomes lost, and thus many metaphors lose their meaning. To understand the metaphoric quality of many words requires that their origins are studied.

See also

Active metaphor

http://www.worldwidewords.org/index.htm

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Site Menu

| Home | Top | Quick Links | Settings |

Main sections: | Disciplines | Techniques | Principles | Explanations | Theories |

Other sections: | Blog! | Quotes | Guest articles | Analysis | Books | Help |

More pages: | Contact | Caveat | About | Students | Webmasters | Awards | Guestbook | Feedback | Sitemap | Changes |

Settings: | Computer layout | Mobile layout | Small font | Medium font | Large font | Translate |

Please help and share:

Quick links

Disciplines

* Argument
* Brand management
* Change Management
* Coaching
* Communication
* Counseling
* Game Design
* Human Resources
* Job-finding
* Leadership
* Marketing
* Politics
* Propaganda
* Rhetoric
* Negotiation
* Psychoanalysis
* Sales
* Sociology
* Storytelling
* Teaching
* Warfare
* Workplace design

Techniques

* Assertiveness
* Body language
* Change techniques
* Closing techniques
* Conversation
* Confidence tricks
* Conversion
* Creative techniques
* General techniques
* Happiness
* Hypnotism
* Interrogation
* Language
* Listening
* Negotiation tactics
* Objection handling
* Propaganda
* Problem-solving
* Public speaking
* Questioning
* Using repetition
* Resisting persuasion
* Self-development
* Sequential requests
* Storytelling
* Stress Management
* Tipping
* Using humor
* Willpower

Principles

Explanations

* Behaviors
* Beliefs
* Brain stuff
* Conditioning
* Coping Mechanisms
* Critical Theory
* Culture
* Decisions
* Emotions
* Evolution
* Gender
* Games
* Groups
* Habit
* Identity
* Learning
* Meaning
* Memory
* Motivation
* Models
* Needs
* Personality
* Power
* Preferences
* Research
* Relationships
* SIFT Model
* Social Research
* Stress
* Trust
* Values

Theories

* Alphabetic list
* Theory types

And

– About
– Guest Articles
– Blog!
– Books
– Changes
– Contact
– Guestbook
– Quotes
– Students
– Webmasters

| Home | Top | Menu | Quick Links |

© Changing Works 2002-
Massive Content — Maximum Speed