Metaphor Checker/ Simile Checker

This is a simple method for checking whether you have a metaphor or not. If a statement passes all of the first three conditions, it's very likely a metaphor. Similes and idioms will not likely pass this test, and can be verified using the fourth and fifth conditions.

1) Is it figurative? Or, is this statement not literal?

E.g. 1): "Love is a flower."  Is love actually a flower? No. This statement is figurative, so it passes the first test.

E.g. 2): "The Internet is the information superhighway." Is it really a highway? No. This statement is figurative, so it also passes the first test.

E.g. 3): "Love is a feeling." Is it really a feeling? Yes. This statement is not figurative, so it fails the first test.

E.g. 4): The typist would hunt and peck for letters. Was the typist actually hunting, as if to kill, or pecking, as if to poke with a beak? No. The statement is figurative, and passes the first test.

2) Is it an equation? Are two components somehow being made equal?

E.g. 1): "Love is a flower."  Is love being made equal to a flower? Yes. The components are being treated as equal, so it passes the second test.

E.g. 2): "The Internet is the information superhighway." Is the Internet equated to a superhighway? Yes. The components are being treated as equal, so it passes the second test..

E.g. 3): "Love is a feeling." Is love being equated to a feeling? Yes. It is a direct statement of fact, and technically passes the second test. 

E.g. 4): "The typist would hunt and peck for letters". Are there two halves being made equal? Yes: The typist and a feeding bird. This is an indirect (implied) metaphor, since one half of the equation is not seen, but one can infer it, since the actions of hunting and pecking are actions of a bird feeding. This passes the second test.

3) Can it expand metaphorically? 

E.g. 1): "Love is a flower."  Love may grow, blossom, wither and die. This statement can expand, passing the third test. It also passed the first two tests, so it is a metaphor.

E.g. 2): "The Internet is the information superhighway." The Internet has traffic; and it may be slow or fast; the superhighway is paved with fiber optics - better pavement facilitates higher travel speeds. This statement also passes the third test, and passed the first two, it is a metaphor.

E.g. 3): "Love is a feeling." Like other feelings, love can increase or develop. However, these are literal descriptions of the word love, rather than metaphorical descriptions. It failed the first and third test - it is not a metaphor. 

E.g. 4): The typist would hunt and peck for letters. The letters of the above typewriter are seeds; the typist may get ruffled feathers; the faster the typist feeds the fatter they will get (faster typists are paid more). This statement passes all three tests, so it is a metaphor.

A Test of Metaphor Strength

Metaphor Reversibility: The stronger the metaphor, the more reversible it becomes. "That man is a dog"/"That dog is a man" doesn't reverse as sensibly as "This house is a box"/"This box is a house". This is because the comparative elements of man=dog are subject to personal opinion and implication, while the comparative elements of house=box can be seen with simple, universal geometry.

Is the metaphor reversible? Can you reverse the source and target easily?

E.g. 1): "Love is a flower".  Could you say without much explanation "a flower is love"? Not really. This is a weak metaphor (a.k.a. poetic metaphor). "Love is a flower" works mainly because we've experienced the emotion, but it would take quite an effort to explain why a flower is love. Though commonly used symbolically, a flower's meaning may have more to do with primitive mating psychology than love: a sign that the male has found a source for provision later in the year - signaling the ability to provide for an offspring at harvest.

E.g. 2): "The Internet is the information superhighway." Could you easily explain why it's true that "a superhighway is the Internet for cars"? Yes. In fact the relationship is so strong that much of the language is interchangeable. This is a strong metaphor.

E.g. 3): "Love is a feeling." Is a feeling love? Yes, sometimes. But this statement is not figurative to begin with, only spelling out a category-subcategory relationship. It is fractionally reversible, making it a strong enough tie, but since it is not a metaphor, it is not a metaphorical tie.

E.g. 4): The typist would hunt and peck for letters. Can one readily explain the reasoning behind the statement "the bird was seeking out and poking at seeds"? Naturally. The process itself involves identical concepts: to look; to poke; to have one of many specific, valuable points to poke at; to be successful as a result. This is a strong metaphor.

Further Tests:

Other types of figurative language are often mistaken for metaphor, especially simile and idiom. Similes behave as if approximations of some quality (e.g. "Jazz is like Jello pudding") and idioms give an old phrase the meaning of a single word (e.g. "long in the tooth" = old).

4) Is it a simile?

A simile generally compares things by implying they are similar, and uses words such as "like" or "as", while a metaphor implies it is exactly the same or interchangeable, often using only "is".

E.g. 1): "Love is like oxygen." Does the statement use "is like" or "is as"; or simply "is"? It uses "is like". This is a simile.

E.g. 2): "Love is a hunger." Does the statement use "is like" or "is as"; or simply "is"? It uses "is". This is not a simile (it is a metaphor, and would pass the first three conditions).

5) Is it an idiom?

An idiom doesn't need to add up. It is a phrase that acts like a word. It defies translation because it has more to do with history than language. Idioms are acquired through the regular use of a phrase within a culture, and develop into a separate meaning, often at the loss of its original meaning altogether.

E.g. 1): "Her arguing tactics left him over a barrel." Was there a barrel? Was he over anything? No. While the American phrase "over a barrel" was once a reference to a specific practice, it eventually came to mean roughly "helpless", and has completely lost its original meaning. It would likely become gibberish if translated directly into another language, because its meaning is not the same as its words would suggest.

 

Further Study: If you have decided that you have found a metaphor, why not learn how to figure out if it is a living metaphor or a dead metaphor?

Living and Dead Metaphors

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