Mixed Metaphors

Metaphor

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which

1. a word or phrase is applied to another object and
2. that word or phrase is not analogous to the object to which it is applied.

Examples

In the following lines from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, “a stage” is applied to “all the world”:

 

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players. (II, vii)

The world is not actually a stage; men and women are not actors.  In the following sentence from Proverbs, “a shield” is applied to “God”:

God is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. (Prov 30:5)

“A shield” is a physical object of protection in warfare, and “God” is a spiritual entity.  The two words are not analogous.

Metaphors create images for readers.  In the previous two examples, readers must consider how the object is like the word or phrase that is applied to it.  Metaphors challenge readers to consider an object in a new way.

Mixed Metaphors

Metaphors can confuse readers when the images that they create conflict, as in the following example from a student journal:

Rock stars are a jet fighter whose life goes downhill at a great rate of knots.

Here, “a jet fighter” is applied to “rock stars.”  This coupling is not necessarily problematic, but there are several parts of the sentence that may confuse the reader:

• “a jet fighter” flies
• “going downhill” is for land-based transportation
• “knots” is a sailing term
• “rock stars” is plural, but “a jet fighter” is singular
• “a jet fighter”is a machine and therefore cannot “live”

The image is difficult to interpret because it is not uniform.  Readers may struggle to imagine an item that is simultaneously going down hill, sailing the ocean, and flying through the air.  In the following example, we have a confusion of physical senses:

No one sees the world through a passive voice.

It is difficult to “see” through the mouth (i.e. “passive voice”).

Do not use mixed metaphors.

Resources

Rutgers has a good explanation of metaphors and mixed metaphors. 

Daily Mixed Metaphor is a blog that lists several humorous mixed metaphors.

The Atlantic Wire has an amusing short article on “The World's Most Mixed Metaphor.”