I Can Understand Metaphors And Use Them

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I never understood either but but there was a thread about it here once and people here explained why it's hard for them to understand them. It's hard for them to apply the meaning of the phrase is a situation when it's used even though they are aware of the meaning of the phrase. They just have a hard time applying it in situations when they're used. I still found it weird because to me it's like learning a foreign language and it's all memorization.


I guess it's like how I am aware when people tell you to do something they don't mean NOW but whenever someone tells me to do something, I always think they mean NOW. It just sneaks up on me. Maybe they don't realize they are using the phrase so it sneaks up on them.

Hmm... I guess that's kind of how it is for me with issues like conversations. I can read about it and sort of get how they're supposed to go but when I'm there in realtime all I ever read is gone from my mind and I struggle (and tend to fail) to use it in practice in a real situation.
And of course I always have a near impossible task trying to come up with anything to say.

It depends on what they want me to do but I also tend to think people want things done NOW.

Last edited by Skilpadde on 06 Apr 2013, 6:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Therapeutic fiber for regularity!

@B9

I didnt mean peasants have less native intelligence than anyone else, but that adages they made up had to do with agriculture and the things they dealt with in their everyday world.


I like your theory about "strike while the Iron is hot".

The saying probably does come from branding irons, and not ironing irons.

Dont know what your point is about the 'whole nine yards'.

If you're a gunner you would go back and forth shooting at different targets to drive off fighters shooting only a few bullets at a time at each. But there might be a desperate moment when one enemy fighter is coming at you at close range- so you just empty the whole belt at it without worrying about conserving ammunition.

Here's the definition:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism

This is, to me, a wonderful thread. Symbolism, language and brain function is a special interest to me for many years. I will write more later, but in short, the understanding of metaphors is learned. In order to processing this kind of data, if you have not heard the saying before, it is necessary to stop and think about it, so the two second delay would be natural, and sometimes the delay is longer than that..

I actually learned a new figure of speech yesterday:

"like shooting a fish in a barrel"

I had to ask my husband what this meant. He said it meant that something is really easy. I said to him, "How is shooting a fish in a barrel really easy? You are likely to miss the fish and destroy the barrel." He said, "It depends on the kind of ammunition you use."

Some figures of speech don't really make much sense to me

I love this thread, and I love this message! Basically what you wrote covers many anomalies of brain function, and by anomalies I do not mean disorders. First, certain things can be better said or emphasized by not exactly saying them right out....so, there is this expression, "hitting the nail on the head"....ha ha... and sometimes, though not always, by not saying something exactly it is actually more possible to hit the nail of the head....it just kind of pegs a quality that is in some way undefinable, so what your husband said to you was kind of wonderful, and it also sounds like guy-think, which is very practical, but from your end, an inquiring mind wants to know:-) Me, too... I am always asking questions like this, though not about metaphor so much, but about anything....I want the details because to my brain it is interesting, and sometimes people get really frustrated with that...........

I always thought it was about smithing. The blacksmith must "strike while the iron is hot" in order to shape it.

At least one source I could find quickly agrees:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/stri ... s-hot.html


You can hear how the term "strike" is used by a smith in this video:
http://youtu.be/0GQl-oqFTnc

You can 'cultivate' a knowledge of figurative and metaphorical speech by studying English language in greater depth beyond basic literacy.

After stopping to think about it I speculated this saying referred to a branding iron, too, even though previously I never really thought about it yet always understood it, but after reading this message I can see that the blacksmith analogy is obviously on the mark, so thanks. One interesting thing is that when the saying in given in a particular situation, it is possible to catch on to the general meaning simply by seeing it in context. Another interesting thing in this particular instance is that if if were referring to a branding iron, it would still mean the same thing even though in smithing the reference is to shaping the iron whereas in branding the hot iron would be used to make an imprint.

But if a person does think about this kind of thing, does it necessarily take something away from the understanding? I think not:-) If I do not catch on, then maybe I need to think about it some more, and if I am too quick then sometimes I miss something.

I think the blacksmith idea is right.

You have to hit a piece of iron while its white hot red hot- or you cant hue it ( Eisenhower's name meant "iron hueer" in German- I guess his ancestor was a smith- but a little more of artist than a regular smith- or 'schmidt').

About 'shooting fish in a barrel': there is also the expression "he couldnt fight his way out of a paper bag"( the ultimage put down of someone trying to be a prizefighter). When I was a child in the sixties my mom told me that back in fifties there was TV variety show in which they actually staged a running contest to see how easy if was "to fight your way out of a paper bag" by placing real contestants into a giant brown paper bag on stage. It turned out to be virtually impossible for anyone. It ran for weeks and none of the countless contestants - including macho male athletes puching furiously could actually free themselves form the paper bag prison.

Shooting fish in a barrel is supposed to be the antithesis of stalking game in the woods- I suppose.

But its probably very hard to do. Its easy if you're using a speargun made for underwater use ( just put your arm underwater and shoot the fish a pointblank range). But if you're trying to stay dry and fire from outside the water with a bullet firing gun ( say a pistol)- it would have to be rather complicated.

If the barrel was sawed in half it would be much easier. But a tall intact barrel has a small opening. The water is dark. And the water bends the light - so even you do see a target fish- its not going to be exactly where you think it is. And then the water effects the path of the bullet more than does air. So shooting at a fish deep in a waterfilled barrel is much harder than shooting a fish sized target from the same distance in open air. And then if you miss- the bullet could puncture the barrel and drain it- or richochet off the water itsself or off the barrel edge and hit you.

I think you're right- it would be rather difficult. Mythbusters should try to stage an actual shooting of fish in a barrel to see if it really is easy!

And while we are on the subject of barrels:

Just exactly how much fun IS "a barrel of monkeys'?

I'd imagine not too much fun if they are flinging their feces at me. But then again, if I were watching them do that to someone else I might think it quite funny.

Ha ha, thanks! Actually this saying might have something to do with brain function. More on this later, but in the meantime--don't wrestle with a curtain:-)

How about "Act your age, but don't crawl" or "if you don't stop your crying, dammit, I'll give you something to cry about!"

Before clothes dryers, you hung washings outside to dry in the open air. So, if your linens were not clean, everyone saw they were soiled. Not appropriate.

Of course, I know a lot of NTs who don't get metaphors because they don't understand the historical context. Heck, how many people say "cutting the mustard" instead of "cutting the muster?"