It’s a little writing trick I leaned from (I think) Orwell. Any time you’re about to use a common metaphor, try to tweak it. You’ll catch readers off guard, which piques their curiosity.
It’s a fun game, too. I wish I’d used “the cat’s out of the hat,” but I didn’t think of it till later.
> When I was young my father said to me: “Knowledge is power, Francis Bacon.” I understood it as “Knowledge is power, France is bacon.”
> For more than a decade I wondered over the meaning of the second part and what was the surreal linkage between the two. If I said the quote to someone, “Knowledge is power, France is Bacon,” they nodded knowingly. Or someone might say, “Knowledge is power” and I’d finish the quote “France is bacon,” and they wouldn’t look at me like I’d said something very odd, but thoughtfully agree. I did ask a teacher what did “Knowledge is power, France is bacon” mean and got a full 10-minute explanation of the “knowledge is power” bit but nothing on “France is bacon.” When I prompted further explanation by saying “France is bacon?” in a questioning tone, I just got a “yes.” At 12 I didn’t have the confidence to press it further. I just accepted it as something I’d never understand.
> It wasn’t until years later I saw it written down that the penny dropped.
Thank you! I was trying to find the original essay I learned it from. I’m now pretty sure it was by Poe, but all I can remember is the main advice: avoid common metaphors.
I vaguely remember one of the metaphors in the essay was about a chicken coop melting, or something like that. It was vivid enough to leave a big impression.
“ Dying metaphors. A newly invented metaphor assists thought by evoking a visual image, while on the other hand a metaphor which is technically ‘dead’ (e. g. iron resolution) has in effect reverted to being an ordinary word and can generally be used without loss of vividness. But in between these two classes there is a huge dump of worn-out metaphors which have lost all evocative power and are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves.”
That reminds me of a PETA campaign on social media trying to get people to replace violent idioms with alternatives like "feeding a fed horse" and "there's more than one way to pet a cat."
It's my first time hearing that variant. Usually its, "the cat's out of the bag" where I'm from.
Do you mean boot in the UK sense, what Americans would call the trunk of a car? Or do you mean a sturdy piece of footwear?
Obligatory xkcd https://xkcd.com/2390/