/lit/ - Literature

BECAUSE MOST PERSONS CANNOT EXPLICITLY STATE THE PRINCIPLE BEHIND THEIR RATIONALE, DUE TO BEING INARTICULATE, OR JUST "GENERALLY" "STUPID".

"Her tits were two mountains of marshmallow that I wished to make smores with through the fire of my loins."
"His dick, the ugly toadstool, inched closer and spewed its congealed milk spittle all over my cleavage and dress before they even touched. Semen is the fluid of life"

>>4321961
What they say is easily dismissed by reading literally. They would get their point across better if they took the time to think through it and to get the education to express their ideas properly.

Or they know they have nothing good to say and are wasting our time.

You are dealing with the bottom of the barrell intellectually in /lit/.

>>4321942
>kid literally is the center of the universe
No he's not you're using the metaphor "center of the universe" to mean "He can only view the universe from his point of view"
You're stupid and a hypocrite

>>4322169
The author could have meant it the way I interpreted it. It saves a lot of confusion if people wrote literally instead of using metaphors.

>>4321942
Because life does not consist of sequences of Arestolian logic, because all communication IS metaphor.

>This is stupid because the kid literally is the center of the universe. He can only view the universe from his point of view, and that requires that he is in the center of it.
So, you're a solipsist who's arguing for others views.

>>4322229
If you propose an absolute you should also provide proof or at least examples.
Until then, you are indeed a solipsist.

>>4322252
Pwnd

>>4321942
You sound like really fun person to talk to.

>>4322315
I don't judge being in peoples' conversation by their monologues and I suggest you don't either.

>>4322323
I judge everyone, I suggest you do that as well.

>>4322323
The point you were trying to make is really pretty shallow and pedantic because you took the sentence too literally. Doesn't set a good precident if you think this was really worth telling us.

Besides, judging people we don't know is what the internet is for.

>>4322341
What point?

>>4322342
Saying a metaphor like 'the kid thinks they are the centre of the universe' is dumb because the kid is the centre of the universe. This means metaphors are dumb.
It's right there in the OP.

>>4322361
You need to re-quote that because it makes no sense to me.

The point of a metaphor is to express a sentiment both precisely and pertinently. Ironically the over use of them in this idiomatic way actually erodes any specific meaning.

The human mind is a machine that runs on metaphors.

1/2

So much ignorance in this thread.

Let me help you guys. The Metaphor is one of the most important tools in the arsenal of the mind; actually is one of the main ways in which humans can think. New ideas and thoughts are generally only able to be expressed thorough metaphors. Also, most of all languages in the world is composed of ancient crystallized metaphors.

Furthermore, in poetry the metaphor is, by far, the most effective and pleasure-inducing device. You can become a good poet even if you don't have talent for metaphors, but never a great poet. Here is Aristotle on the topic:

>But the greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor. It is the one thing that cannot be learnt from others; and it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity in dissimilars.

Metaphors are so present in our world that people that suffer with some cases of Asperger's syndrome simply fail to understand most information that is not presented in logical and mathematical ways.

>>4322471

2/2

And don't think that good metaphors are merely descriptive image, no. Description is what Tolkien does in that endless pages about the mountains, the forests, the rivers, etc. But how much more exiting are the words of Shakespeare, don't you think. Do you know the reason for that? Because the bard is using metaphors, not mere description. Nothing beats the sensation, the touch, color and smell of a bath at the sea, or the feeling of your genitals inside a girl, or the touch of warm and tender breasts on your chest, or the taste of a good barbecue, the icy flavor of a cold beer.

That's the reason why I like metaphors so much: they don't only describe something, they actually create things that did not exist before Let me explain:

Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off;
And pity, like a naked newborn babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubim, horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind.

Here the abstraction that are virtues are transformed into angels, and the faculty of being able to be admired and respected by other are the "trumpet-tongue" that they posses; the most striking metaphor, however, is the transformation of another abstraction, pity, into a fragile and innocent new-born babe: this is not the description of a sunset, of a flower field, of a person - it is the creation of something that did not existed in the world till the time that Shakespeare wrote about it.

There is one book that reunites all that today is known about metaphors, and it's results are incredible: if you read this work it will completely change your understanding of the power, importance and reach of the metaphorical language and metaphorical thought. Here it is:
http://www.amazon.com/Is-Other-Secret-Metaphor-Shapes/dp/0061710296/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385860374&sr=8-1&keywords=i+is+an+other

Also, this:

>>4322399

>>4322392
When youre using them to convey your emotions, fine ok. I get it.
But to convey ideas that can be better understood and clearly so using articulate normal language? Come on now, dont use them, thats just being an attention whore.

>>4322471
Because in an article, writing poetry is oh so important.
Go fuck yourself and the intellectual horse you rode in on, nobody cares about writing poetry.

>>4322526
>nobody cares about writing poetry.

If you dont like poetry (or at least respect it), please, fuck off of /lit/.

Also, read the book:

>>4322475
>There is one book that reunites all that today is known about metaphors, and it's results are incredible: if you read this work it will completely change your understanding of the power, importance and reach of the metaphorical language and metaphorical thought. Here it is:
>http://www.amazon.com/Is-Other-Secret-Metaphor-Shapes/dp/0061710296/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385860374&sr=8-1&keywords=i+is+an+other

Maiby it will cure you of your plebness.

>>4322547
>Maiby

*maybe

fucking typos

>>4322547
That last statement and another which I think is obvious has made me decide to not do what you say.
Go fuck yourself and the intellectual horse you rode in on and may it burn in a roaring fire that burns brighter than the one in my heart.

As Hofstadter said: Analogy is like the vehicle of human thought.

It's not just useful, it's actually impossible to even have thoughts or conversations without using analogies, at least according to some interpretations of consciousness, which I agree with.

That would take a long time to explain however. It would be like trying to tell the story of the Earth from day one.

>>4322570

Please, hate me, but don't hate the opportunity to explore new points of view. This book is really exceptional - I bet its going to change the way you view metaphorical language.

>>4321942
OP, read this. Actually, everyone in this thread should read this. Fascinating Orwell article on how metaphors grow stale. Seriously, this redefined how I write.
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm

It's not necessarily meant for fiction, but just fucking read it.

All language is metaphor. First you connect a noise to a thing you see--first metaphor! The noise is the perceived thing. Then you connect that thing you see, say a leaf on the ground, to what you see at a later date, the leaf 10 minutes later, and call it the same thing--second metaphor! Metaphors everywhere!

I'm more concerned over your usage of literally.

>>4322604
"Meaningless words. In certain kinds of writing, particularly in art criticism and literary criticism, it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning.† Words like romantic, plastic, values, human, dead, sentimental, natural, vitality, as used in art criticism, are strictly meaningless"

You can tell a speaker or writer is full of shit when they even once use these kinds of words. They are trying to sell you something, probably new-age.

I just wanted to point that out because I see people use these words so often, and they sound mentally unstable when they do so.

>>4322639
The author was concerned that the child would think they were the center of the universe.
What other point of view could the child have? Would he be right in thinking he was to the right of the universe, the bottom, the top?

>>4322611
'Who let this nutjob out of their straightjacket and padded cell?' is the first thing that came to mind after reading that.

>>4322201

Holy shit, you can't be much fun.

>>4322669

He exaggerated a bit, but actually he is kind of right. The roots of the majority of the words are metaphorical, and new thoughts and discoveries are generally only possible to be explained by allusions, or, in other words, by joining different things together, by using a metaphorical way of thinking.

>>4322696
Another loose from the looney bin!

>>4322696
Crazed person escapes from mental hospital with accomplice!
I can see it in the headlines now.

>>4322738
>>4322742

>>4322797
Is this a jail cell?

>>4322738

Make us 3. I have read about it, and those guys are right.

Also, nice posts:

>>4322471
>>4322475

>>4322471
>implying ignorance isn't socioculturally useful

>>4322361
>the kid is the centre of the universe.

no. the universe has trillions and trillions of processes that run independent of the kid. he can demonstrate this by killing himself and seeing them as a ghost.

>>4321971
Aren't those similes?

>>4321942
dem tittays

>>4321942

>they don't only describe something, they actually create things that did not exist before

Good point. And I think that idea is central to humanity as a whole. Humans are the only beings capable of wilfully changing their own context, of taking one idea and applying it to another thing to form a new realm. As another guy said, it's just how the mind works.

human mind works on the power of association. never studied mnemonics?

>I'd rather read police reports than novels!
>¨Poetry is shit! Ikea instructions to build furniture all the way!

>>4322604
It was a great article. It stated things I already had suspected.

"But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought."

That quote in particular brought to my mind the ghetto Blacks and their usage of slang and butchering of the English language on a daily basis and even in their art (such as rap music).

>ctrl + F "autism"
>not one response

OP literally has it.

>>4325065
Cute 4chan diagnosis.

In case you're new here "autism" has been so overused and misused that it virtually means absolutely nothing.

Granted, the word carries some credence outside of 4chan boards, but look where you are.

You're just another fool using buzzwords you don't comprehend.

>>4325065
I do not. I simply do not enjoy reading news articles written lazily and that are almost entirely up for subjective interpretation. It's like the reader can replace all those meaningless words and phrases with whatever they want.

>>4325073
>getting butthurt about metaphors
>wanting everything to be literal
>not autism

>>4325078
>It's like

>dat simile

You are the zombies.

>>4325079
>diagnosing people you've never met
>not even a doctor
>a total fucking moron

Pick 3.

>>4325087
>taking my accusation of autism literally
>to argue that you don't have autism

>>4325082
You could change that to a literal statement instead of a simile and it still states what I think about it.

>>4322201
being this autistic

>>4325094
I'm not OP. You have caught stupid and it's terminal.

>>4325103

Geez doc, don't pussyfoot, give it to me straight.
Sarcasm wrapped in a joke, let's see him figure this one out!