There are three things to be especially wary of when using figurative language: choosing the wrong image through ignorance of the meaning of an established phrase or a faulty knowledge of the real world or history, mixing metaphors, and inadvertently bringing dead metaphors back to life.Ignorance of MeaningConsider the following example:Besides, a well-chosen image can pull an unexpected punch. As the old saying goes, "One image is worth a thousand words…." What the writer meant to say, evidently, was that a well-chosen image can pack an unexpected punch. To pull a punch, as anyone with an elementary knowledge of boxing knows, or as anyone can find out from the dictionary, is to refrain from putting the usual amount of force into it or to stop your fist before it makes contact with the other person.Now take a look at this example:It was a missed opportunity—that much was certain—but she was not greatly concerned. Like the proverbial musician, she had more than one string to her bow. A careful look at a violin bow would soon put this writer back on track. It was medieval archers who carried a spare bowstring and whose habits gave rise to this saying. You should always check in a dictionary or other reference work if you are uncertain about the usual wording of a familiar phrase or do not know its exact meaning or provenance.Mixed MetaphorsA mixed metaphor is one in which two different images or figurative expressions are used together inappropriately. For instance, when a new opera house was opened in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, a prominent politician announced:Wales has taken the stage on the map of the world. He was obviously trying to express his sense that the country had gained a new international prominence. He could hardly have chosen a more ham-handed way of doing so, mixing the idea of taking the stage with the idea of being put on the map.Here is another example:I warn you that, if we go down that road, we shall be entering a minefield, and I, for one, will be walking on eggshells until we are clear on the other side. It is clear how the first image, go down that road, (though a terrible cliché) suggests the others. If the writer had stopped after minefield, the result would have been an acceptable sentence. To add the idea of walking on eggshells to the idea of entering a minefield reduces the whole sentence to absurdity.The way to avoid such disasters is to put back the element that we so often leave out—visualization. If you try to visualize the literal sense of what you are saying—visualize someone entering a literal minefield, then visualize someone walking on literal eggshells; or, visualize an actor taking the stage, and then visualize a map of the world—you are far less likely to commit this kind of offense against common sense.Dead MetaphorsDead metaphors are words and phrase that have become so familiar that readers and writers usually use them without any sense at all of their metaphorical origins. We would never think of choosing them in order to make the unfamiliar more familiar or to bring something home to a reader's imagination. If you call someone or something a lame duck, you do not expect the reader's mind to flash up an image of an unfortunate bird that needs help in walking. Spadework, referred to at the beginning of the chapter, is a similar case.There is nothing wrong with dead metaphors and no need to avoid them. They are the staple material for the everyday use of figurative terms. But there are situations where a mischievous person or an inappropriate context can suddenly bring the long-gone original senses of these words back to life, usually with unintended comic effect:They were left with 500 pairs of men's fashion boots on their hands. Many women still find they are left dangling under the glass ceiling. Tired and unresponsive readers may take these sentences at their face value and not notice the howlers. Writers should always be on the lookout for them. The fact you intended a word to be understood in one sense does not mean a reader may not decide to take it in another. Many words carry, as it were, unexploded alternative meanings. Here, to take a less obviously ludicrous example, is the first draft of two sentences from earlier in this chapter:When we use the word spadework, however, we are more likely to be using it figuratively. We will, again in the vast majority of cases, be referring not to the work of turning over the ground with an actual spade, but to hard or routine preparatory work in any field. In most contexts, it would be perfectly acceptable to use the word field to mean "area of activity." In this instance, the proximity of the words ground and spade brings the original agricultural sense of field back to life. Fortunately, we realized at once that this was a mistake and recast the sentence.When you choose a word, always bear in mind the context in which it will appear and make sure it is right for that context. Again, visualize the literal sense, and, if in doubt, stick to the plain and literal:They were left with 500 pairs of men's fashion boots to dispose of. Many women still find that there are limits to how far they can advance in their profession.
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