Chet The Dog

Posts Tagged ‘metaphor’

Metaphors

“We were talking about metaphors,” Admin says. “Here’s a simile I found randomly in SCENTS AND SENSIBILITY:”

Blood went drip drip on the floor, making a sound like soft rain, just before the storm.

“Anything to say?” says Admin.

“Well,” says Spence, “metaphors can’t be just nice language. They have to serve the story.”

“Concretize the abstract. Abstractify the concrete,” says Admin. “That’s what I always say.”

“You and you alone.”

(SCENTS AND SENSIBILITY – coming on Bastille Day.)

Thank You, Humans

We were going to have some more discussion of metaphors today with Spence and Admin, but you’ll be spared the tedium of that by breaking news: WOOF will debut Sunday May 17 at #13 on the NYT children’s middle-grade bestsellers list.

Thank you, readers!

Cactus Man

“Whoa,” say Admin. “There’s a festival in SCENTS AND SENSIBILITY called Cactus Man?”

“There is,” says Spence.

“Sounds like it might be rich, metaphorically speaking. Given Bernie’s ecological concerns, and all. Any comment?”

“Pork pie hats also play a role.”

“Hmm. Not sure I see the metaphor in that.”

“I hardly ever see the metaphors myself. Only after the fact.”

Cliff Lee

“Good pitching beats good hitting,” says Spence.

“And other baseball cliches,” says Admin.

Sometimes I think these guys need a long vacation away from each other. Bernie and I went on vacation once, out to San Diego. I surfed. He wore his best Hawaiian shirts. He met a woman named Doreen. She stole his wallet. But no time to get into that now.

“What I’m wondering is why?” says Spence.

“Why good pitching beats good hitting?” says Admin.

“Exactly. Do you think it’s something intrinsic to the game? Like the dimensions of the infield, the size of the plate, the design of the ball itself?”

“So you’re saying it’s a classic closed system?” Admin says.

“Yeah.”

“Hmm,” says Admin. “I wonder if it’s also true metaphorically.”

“Pitching beating hitting as a metaphor in life?”

“Yup.”

“Give me an example,” says Spence.

“Darwinian evolution.”

Darwin! I remember Darwin Del Reno, a drug dealer we took down some time ago, now wearing an orange jumpsuit. Whew! For a moment this conversation was getting a little hard to follow.