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Familiar Metaphorical Expressions: The Penguin Guide To Plain English

This document discusses familiar metaphorical expressions that are commonly used in language. It provides examples of expressions derived from old biblical images, verbs like "hit" and "drive", and nouns like "run". These metaphorical expressions have stood the test of time because they vividly encapsulate human experiences in a colorful way that makes them indispensable to communication.

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34 views

Familiar Metaphorical Expressions: The Penguin Guide To Plain English

This document discusses familiar metaphorical expressions that are commonly used in language. It provides examples of expressions derived from old biblical images, verbs like "hit" and "drive", and nouns like "run". These metaphorical expressions have stood the test of time because they vividly encapsulate human experiences in a colorful way that makes them indispensable to communication.

Uploaded by

Ilias
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Penguin Guide to Plain English

Familiar Metaphorical Expressions


A living language is rich in well-used phrases and expressions that have
stood the test o f time. We are always ready to fall back on them w hen
they seem to meet our need. Using old biblical images, w e may call a
hypocrite a w hited sepulchre or a favourite child the apple o f m y eye.
We speak o f something occurring at the drop o f a hat and o f someone
being at the end of their tether. On occasions w e feel that there is no
equally expressive alternative to speaking o f a pig in a poke or a pain
in the neck. We have a stock of long-established metaphorical sayings
to hand w hich we readily resort to. H ow w e should miss the m etaphor
He has hit the nail on the head! And that use o f the verb h it reminds
us how fruitful certain basic verbs have been in supplying us w ith
multifarious expressions. W hen someone gave us the expression hit the
bottle, w e gained a vivid way of saying something for w hich no crisp
and neat alternative could be found. One could only match it in m eaning
by qualifying the verb to drink (heavily, continually, addictively)
or by having recourse to terms like alcoholic or dipsom aniac. And
how richly different from hitting the bottle is hitting the ro o f , hitting
the headlines, hitting the hay or hitting the jackpot.
We have other verbs w hich have supplied such expressions. The verb
to drive gives us drive a hard bargain, drive a coach and horses
through, drive a point hom e and drive a nail into som eones coffin.
The w ord ru n , as verb and noun, gives us run the gauntlet, run rings
ro u n d , run the show and the run o f the house. The best such
metaphorical expressions have a colourfulness and a vividness w hich
seem to make them indispensable. W here should we turn for an alterna
tive w hen we w ant to say that someone is barking up the w rong tree?
This particular experience is typical in the way it encapsulates hum an
experience. For it derives from hunting w ith dogs. The dog chases its
prey but fails to identify the tree up w hich the animal has escaped. The
saying is one o f many associated w ith dogs, such as I have a bone to
pick w ith you. There the hostile struggle caused by giving one bone to
two dogs to share is in the back o f the mind. His bark is worse than his
bite is an apt description of someone w ho is superficially threatening or
hostile but is unlikely to harm anyone in practice. W hen we w ant to
criticize someone for playing a double game and trying to protect his

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