| 词组 | mixed metaphor |
| 释义 | mixed metaphor This is an entry in several usage books and handbooks for the same reason malapropism is: it seems a shame to waste good comic material. Mixed metaphors are essentially a matter of beginning with one figurative expression and ending with another. These are doubtless more frequent in speech than in writing, for writers at least have the opportunity to go back and revise. Of course, they sometimes fail to do so. Here are a few samples without their authors' names: • This field of research is so virginal that no human eye has ever set foot in it —Ph.D. dissertation cited in Linguistic Reporter, April 1981 • The vacuum in the presidency that hung over the university—Change, March/April 1971 • The political equation was thus saturated with kerosene —Newsweek, 28 Apr. 1986 • ... seems rather tame during the first taste or two, but gradually builds up a head of steam that leaves one breathing fire —Gourmet, January 1979 • ... American scientists stole a trump on the Soviet Union —Springfield (Mass.) Morning Union, 12 Sept. 1985 • ... an almost universal crescendo of hysteria and violence is the path through the horns of the dilemma —A Center Occasional Paper, 1971 It should be noted that sometimes a mixed metaphor may result when the writer is so accustomed to the figurative sense of a word that he or she forgets its metaphorical origin. Thus some mixed metaphors can be useful evidence for the lexicographer that an extended sense is established. These last two examples are perhaps such evidence: • The ecologists are hammering away at the population growth bottleneck in an effort to shave it to reasonable proportions —cited in Bernstein 1971 • Bond's knees, the Achilles' heel of all skiers, were beginning to ache —Ian Fleming, cited in Barzun 1985 All we can suggest is that you look back over what you have written for any figurative language that may draw an unintended laugh. See also malapropism; syntactic blend. |
| 随便看 |
英语用法大全包含2888条英语用法指南，基本涵盖了全部常用英文词汇及语法点的翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。