To Wit: An E-zine On How To Be a Wit
08/09/2007

This is an E-zine from Thomas Christopher on how to be witty.

WITTY SELF-EXPRESSION PRODUCTS

I'm offering T-shirts and other self-expression products designed using the techniques discussed here. I've set up an online "store" at wittyselfexpression.com. I expect to use many of the designs as examples in this e-zine.

How To Defuse a Metaphor

Metaphors can be powerful tools of persuasion, which is fine if you are using them, but not if your opponent is. To defend against metaphors, or just for humor, it pays to know how to combat them. There are three particularly effective ways to defuse metaphors: replace the metaphor with another one, reinterpret the metaphor, and use the metaphor as a setup for a joke.

These tricks can defuse somebody else's metaphor, perhaps forcing them to resort to rational argument. For practice, or simply amusement, you can take cliché metaphors and play with them. Playing with clichés is excellent training for attacking other metaphors.

It does not work well to try to combat a metaphor by arguing rationally that it doesn’t apply. The vividness of the metaphor will stay in the mind and will not be replaced by criticism. Some people don’t even argue against the metaphor, but simply call attention to it, as if that would banish it from the mind.

Before showing the three effective ways to combat metaphors, we need to remember the three parts of a metaphor. The tenor is what is being described, the vehicle is being used to describe it, and the ground is what they have in common. For example, someone once said to me, “A life is a work of art.” Life is the tenor. Work of art is the vehicle. The ground includes that both are creations that we show to other people. The two major uses of a metaphor are either to emphasize the ground or to transfer associations from the vehicle to the tenor.

Someone can use a metaphor to emphasize some attribute of the tenor by making that the ground of the metaphor. You can reinterpret the metaphor by finding a different ground. Take this cliché,

"Speech is silver; silence, gold."

The intention was to express relative value. You can change the ground by saying,

"Yes, you have to polish your silver."

Twisting it into talking about the difficulty of public speaking.

A metaphor can be used to transfer associations of the vehicle to describe the tenor. Whether your opponents are using the metaphor to emphasize the ground or to transfer associations of the vehicle, you can use it to transfer unexpected associations.

They say: "Think of your life as a work of art."

You say: "I hate Jackson Pollock."

They were probably not thinking of life as abstract expressionism.

The easiest way to use a metaphor as a setup for a joke is to take it literally. When someone else has just used a metaphor, you call attention to its figurative language and make it sound silly. For example, if you have criticized a plan as not enough to make a difference in solving a problem, a proponent can say back, "It's better to light one little candle than to curse the darkness.” You can respond, "But wouldn’t it be better to flip on the lights? The light switch is on the wall just next to the door. Who knows which drawer the candles are stashed in. And if you find them, why light just one? And why a little one?" By the end of that, the message of doing good -- even if only in tiny ways -- has been lost. You can then go on to replace the metaphor: “I say we flip on the lights.”

When you need to argue against a metaphor, remember that rational argument doesn’t get it out of people’s minds. Try these three things instead: reinterpret the metaphor, replace the metaphor with another one, or make a joke out of the metaphor by taking it literally.

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