analogies popping in my head all the time

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anyone else? i can apply a similar instance with more general concepts to certain situations. is it metaphor rather?

I do it all the time, without any effort. People tend to find the analogies useful and interesting. Not only does this help tremendously with the teaching aspect of my business, but also in talking people through difficult times.

I love metaphors and analogies for being there when i need them! Yes, i do it most of the time, it just makes it so much easier to explain things rather than relating them with individuals.

Yes, I have accepted that this is the way I think. I have worked/interacted with folks with little imagination, often very intelligent otherwise, who sometimes have difficulty with the whole concept of an analogy. I have a rough time with these folks, since this way of thinking is automatic for me. I just see connections everywhere and they remind me of other connections. It is a pretty stark contrast, since I usually am told that my analogies are very helpful and enable people to grasp concepts that formerly eluded them. Sometimes I feel like the guy on NUMB3RS...

Yes, I'm forever thinking in analogies and can't understand why other people don't "get" the analogies. I put an example on a thread about abstract and concrete thinking last night and I'm sure I'll be citing many more examples on these boards!

I come up with analogies all the time. When I was a teen, people thought I was a dork for coming up with them. But as I got older, they actually liked the same analogies. When I had a job where I worked as a part-time camp counselor, the kids responded very well to my use of analogies. For instance, when I used animal or cartoon characters to describe different ways of running (e.g. jogging, sprinting, and long-distance running). They actually applied them in a military-style running game I did afterwards.

When I started working in computer support, analogies worked well in explaining technical concepts. For instance, when explaining TCP/IP, I used letter in the mail as an example; or when explaining bandwidth, I compared it to water in the pipes. There was even a time when I used an analogy when talking to a girl at a party, and she really liked it. With that said, I still limit my use of an analogy to situations when I'm absolutely sure it'll be well-received.

First off, around these parts we call them 'tubes'.

Secondly, Ted Stevens, incompetent and corrupt as he is, did get the tube analogy right.

Humorous, how the only thing that came out his mouth in the infamous, bumbling display of incompetence that was marginally rooted in reality was the part made famous and most laughed at. I guess 'its a series of tubes' was a lot catchier then 'hey did you get my internet?'

I have a great hard drive but only a single-core processor and a shortage of RAM

Yes, I can see them often in situations but I understand them seldom when they are spoken.

Yep, exactly. Apparently if I stick a couple of these analogies into poetry (like someone attempting to "inject" brine into a piece of poultry ) it makes the poetry Good. I have no idea how that works, but... whatever.

I think it has to do with pattern recognition. I can put patterns together faster than I can express the thought. The "lightbulb going off" analogy is a perfect description of how I think. Patterns come together and the 'ightbulb goes off. Usually I have no direct realization of where the understanding came from. I just all of a sudden know. But when I can feel it happen it's from similarities in patterns, as if I think in analogies.

Yeah, I've explained things through analogies for as long as I can remember. I generally just see them as a mental image, and most of the time, it makes it easier for people to know what I'm talking about.

Yes, alot.

I don't do this, but I have an NT friend who does. EVERYTHING is an analogy with her!

Yes, I tend to do this. Or, rather, I see the connections between things. Often I think not in terms of the concepts themselves but in the way they are connected to each other.

I'll see the whole thing at once and then have to struggle to get it all down. What makes it even more difficult is to me start anywhere and working my way around the pattern works just fine, or hopscotching around, but english syntax is a little more rigorous. When I write freehand i may write a word starting with any of the letters in the word and the filling in the rest, backwards and forewords. If the word has an infrequently occurring (in english) I am likely to start with the particular letter first. Like if the word is "fix" I my write the unique letter "x" first and then fill in the "fi" before it. Same with unique. I might start with the "qu" then back up to the beginning and fill in the rest.