Just recently I was thinking about the expression “Early bird gets the worm.” First off, who even likes to eat worms? Gross. What’s the corollary for night owls? “Night owl gets the rat?” I don’t want to eat rats either. And what type of bird represents everyone else? The Pigeon? Pigeons eat whatever they want. Why am I waking up early for worms and staying up late for rats? Pigeons are eating best out of all the birds and they wake up whenever the hell they want.
Actually metaphors literally are literal. That's why dictionaries can change the meaning of literally to mean figuratively, instead of understanding figurative language.
