Tips for Creating Great Metaphors
By Eric Hammer
You've probably heard some of the great metaphors which have
entered the English language over the years, such as the pot
calling the kettle black or the little boy who cried wolf too
many times (in both cases, these become metaphors when they are
used as comparisons to something else. On their own, these are
both idioms). These are both based on fairy tales; in the first
case, on the story of Don Quixote and in the second case on the
story of Little Red Riding Hood. However, there are more modern
metaphors such as saying that someone's beauty shines like the
stars. But how does one come up with a good metaphor? Read on
to find out.
Difference between Metaphors, Similes and Idioms
It is important before we begin to clarify terms. People often
get these three words confused, because they have overlapping
meanings. A metaphor is where you compare any two things.
So for example, if we were to say Firefly, a canceled Science
Fiction series from the 2002-2003 TV season is Star Trek for
the modern generation (Star Trek was also canceled and developed
a cult following later on), that would be a metaphor, perhaps
not one of the great metaphors, but a metaphor nonetheless.
If we were to say "Firefly is like Star Trek for a modern
age," that would be a simile because we've included the
direct comparative. In both cases however, these are in fact
metaphors.
An idiom by comparison refers to something by some other term.
So for example if we were to say we "heard through the grapevine"
that Firefly had become a cult favorite like Star Trek, that
would be an idiom.
The First Step - It Has to Be Known
The first step in creating great metaphors is to look for
things which are commonly known. The example above would work
well as a metaphor in hard core science fiction circles, but
for the general population, it would probably be a lost reference
(most people know what Star Trek is even if they haven't seen
it, but few people outside the hard core science fiction world
know what Firefly is).
A better metaphor might be for example that Jerry Seinfeld
was the Lucille Ball of the 1990s. Since both Lucille Ball (from
I Love Lucy) and Jerry Seinfeld (of Seinfeld) are fairly well
known to the general population as great comedians (to use another
metaphor of sorts, if Lucille Ball was known as the queen of
comedy, Jerry Seinfeld was known as the king of comedy), this
is a better metaphor and we're on our way to creating one of
the great metaphors of our time.
Taking Culture into Account
Another thing to consider when trying to come up with great
metaphors is the issue of culture. Americans tend to use baseball
and football references as metaphors and idioms (how many times
have you heard someone talking about getting to first base, second
base, etc. or about quarterbacking the situation? Note by the
way that these are technically idioms, not metaphors, though
for our purposes, the comparison still works). However, when
talking to non Americans, these references are often lost on
them since they didn't grow up with those culture references.
Making Appropriate Comparisons
Finally, creating great metaphors means making appropriate
comparisons. So for example one might say that Israel is the
Silicon Valley of the Middle East because Israel has become known
for its high tech sector, which accounts for 16% of its exports.
However, saying that Saudi Arabia is the Silicon Valley of
the Middle East because Saudi Arabia is a wealthy country (thanks
to its oil wealth) is not appropriate. Even though both areas
are ostensibly quite wealthy, the common knowledge about the
two areas that most people have would make this sound like a
very strange metaphor since Silicon Valley is known for its high
tech prowess and the wealth that comes with it is considered
secondary as far as what it's known for, whereas Saudi Arabia
is known for its oil wealth and not for its technological prowess.
On the other hand, if we were to say that Alaska or Texas
is the Saudi Arabia of the United States (since those two states
are well known for exporting a significant amount of oil), that
might well be considered one of the great metaphors of our time.
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