Laying your cards on the table- Be open and not deceptive. Letting someone honestly know what you are planning on doing.

According to the Cambridge dictionary there is a difference between metaphors and idoms.

definition of idiom:

“a group of words whose meaning considered as a unit is different from the meanings of each word considered separately.”

definition of metaphor:

“an expression that describes a person or object by referring to something that is considered to possess similar characteristics.”

Looks like I have confused metaphors with idioms. I have not posted  metaphors idioms on Langwitches in a while. Looks like that I am going through phases when I use more or less metaphors idioms in my daily communications.

Metaphors Idioms are one of the things I have the most trouble with when I am in conversation with monolingual people. Using metaphors idioms conjure up images that when translated into a different language make PERFECT sense to my brain, but only earn confused looks or laughter from the others.

This one came up yesterday in a conversation:

Smearing honey around someone’s mouth (from German “Jemanden Honig um den Mund schmieren”)

After a few laughs, we settled that the English equivalent of the metaphor would be to

Buttering someone up

BTW, that visual is equally funny for a non- English speaker

Buttering someone up (or smear honey around their mouth) means, that you give him plenty of compliments or agree with his/her in order to get what you want.

A picture can tell a story…

While in Argentina last month, I heard one metaphor over and over again

Ponerse las pilas

which literally translated means "put yourself the batteries", but otherwise I would translate with the metaphor in English of

To get on the ball

I like to envision this metaphor in my mind since I believe that we need to "put ourselves the batteries in ", if we want to accomplish something. We need to put ourselves the batteries in if we want to move ahead. We need all the energy we can get when we try to encourage, enlighten, educate, and "enthusiate" others about seeing teaching in a new light and from a different perspective.

“Um den heissen Brei reden“- Literally translated from the German to “To talk around the hot porridge”.

There is a similar metaphor in English that is being used in a similar fashion “To beat around the bush“

While thinking about my last post “Unwilling to Make the Effort to Learn” and talking with my mother about the issue of humans’ resistance to change, she used a great metaphor in German.

People see that things have changed and they know that they will need/should adapt. Many still prefer to stand in front of that “change” like an “Ochs vorm Berg“.

Which directly translated would mean : Stand in front of something like an Ox in front of a mountain. The ox will look at the mountain, waiting for the mountain to move. If the mountain did not move the next day, it will stand in front of it again… waiting…

Image by drurydrama

Isn’t that one of the differences between humans and animals? That humans are able to change, innovate, re-think, re-evaluate, adapt… Animals live on instincts and habits that they repeat time after time without questioning.

In the English, Spanish and German language we use a phrase related to animals, when we talk about people who like their routines and feel uneasy about change.

• Animales de Costumbre (Spanish, direct translation: Animals of Customs)
• Gewohnheitstier (German, direct translation: Animal of Habit)
• Creatures of habit (English)

Another post in my metaphor series.

If you can’t take the heat- Get out of the kitchen - Meaning don’t take on a job if you are unwilling to face its pressures

Sticking out your neck- Meaning taking risks, exposing yourself to criticism

Tirarse a la pileta (Spanish: Literal translation for “Throwing yourself into the pool”) meaning taking a risk without knowing or caring for consequences. Throw caution into the wind and just do it!

Another definition for Metaphor comes from the Compact Oxford English Dictionary

A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable

Metaphors help explain the world around us. I always have been fascinated by them. Maybe it helps me “feel” language better.

Caught on Twitter

“Seems like wet cement”
Meaning “Our steps aren’t washed away” (cburell) or “Use your time wisely and leave an imprint” (langwitches)

Some tech metaphors:

“Her face lit up like a light on a DSL modem”
The joy when your Internet connection works.

“You need to defragment”
when trying to clear you mind and think

I am re-reading Daniel Pink’s “A Whole New Mind”, since I will be going to NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) in New York next month, where he will be one of the keynote speakers.

He writes:

Metaphors- that is, understanding one thing in terms of something else. [..] metaphor is central to reason [...] Metaphorical imagination is essential in forging empathic connections and communication experiences that others do not share.

Having grown up with three languages, I have always been big on metaphors. Each language has given me something that I had/have a hard time expressing the exact same way in another language. Sometimes the translated word does not communicate the feeling and associated sentiment that it does in another language. When trying to transmit that to a speaker of another language, I usually resort to metaphors to represent it in a different way for them. I also feel that some languages (Spanish for me) are more metaphorical than others (German in my case) , which makes me wonder if speakers of those languages are better in communicating. So many times a metaphor in one language absolutely makes no sense in one of the other languages. I get blank stares when I try to use them and have to explain myself and the meaning.

Pink suggests to keep a metaphor log to

improve your MQ (metaphor quotient) writing down compelling and surprising metaphors you encounter.

Pink quotes Twyla Tharp, a choreographer who encourages people to boost their metaphor quotient, or MQ, because ” in the creative process, MQ is valuabe as IQ.”

Well I am will to give it a try and use this blog (and maybe twitter) to keep a metaphor log. Anyone else up for helping me expand my MQ by contributing your favorite metaphor. Any language is welcome, please provide a translation and meaning.

The last metaphor I heard was:

I feel like watering rocks

Expressed when feeling frustrated about ones fruitless effort.