MIXED METAPHORS

Taranaki Daily News, 23 March 1935, Page 15 (Supplement)

MIXED METAPHORS

ENGLISH WRITER’S WARNING. SPOILING EFFECT OF ARGUMENT! "Do you remember hearing an eloquent speaker say these words: ‘That enemy of ours is captain of a crewless ship on a shoreless sea, but, mind you, he will bring all his men safe to land’? writes Quintu Quiz in the Christian Century. Perhaps you have forgotten; but you will agree that metaphors want watching, <>.■ Of course if you were a Shakespeare, or a Milton, or a contributor to Holy Writ, you could mix your metaphors freely. You could take arms against , a sea of troubles, or attack ‘blind mouths? or prophesy ■an ‘overflowing scourge.’ But not being any of these, you and I have to be careful. “We must not say, for example, that the floodgates of communism and atheism are advancing hand in hand. Floodgates do not do things like that. “Nor . must we use figures, however, true, which will amuse the youthful listener. If we tell our hearers such as have backbones to bring them to the front, we shall make youth explode with laughter.] And ill-timed laughter snuffs the candles of eloquence. “But a speaker in search of originality may easily miss his way. One such speaker had grown tired of the too familiar ways of warning people against acting too late. Anyone can say that we must not lock the door after the horse is stolen. But he had to discover a variation. ‘You don't wait,’ he said, ‘till the house is on fire before you send for the fire brigade.’ But that creates a most unfortunate impression. There might be suspicion of being an accessory before the fact. “There is a real danger in an excessive use of metaphors. It is not only that they may give rise to mirth, but also that they may obscure or delay an argument.’’