Metaphors and Beyond
@metaphorsandbeyond.bsky.social
Devoted to discovering, identifying, and using uncommonly high quality non-literal comparisons (metaphors, metonymies, similes, analogies, etc.). Send 'em my way! For much, much more go to metaphorsandbeyond dot com.
Dutt strikes again with similes. Beware of the no flour muffins!
October 28, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Dutt strikes again with similes. Beware of the no flour muffins!
Zack Hill cleverly demonstrates that not all metaphiers are able to bridge age gaps. Carry on! #metaphorsandbeyond
October 16, 2025 at 11:49 PM
Zack Hill cleverly demonstrates that not all metaphiers are able to bridge age gaps. Carry on! #metaphorsandbeyond
Historical analogy via software update terminology! “Torrey Taussig . . . said the Trump-Putin meeting risked being seen as ‘Yalta 2.0,‘ referring to the 1945 summit in which leaders of the U.S., U.K. and Soviet Union carved up postwar spheres of influence.“ #metaphorsandbeyond
August 15, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Historical analogy via software update terminology! “Torrey Taussig . . . said the Trump-Putin meeting risked being seen as ‘Yalta 2.0,‘ referring to the 1945 summit in which leaders of the U.S., U.K. and Soviet Union carved up postwar spheres of influence.“ #metaphorsandbeyond
Here are a couple for you! Enjoy! #metaphorsandbeyond
May 13, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Here are a couple for you! Enjoy! #metaphorsandbeyond
By cross-referencing related words Jack Ohman takes a stealth metaphor (rollercoaster) and uses DJT's claim of "on track" to produce a visual/verbal metaphor of note. Let's not ride this one until the tracks are fixed!
May 7, 2025 at 11:23 PM
By cross-referencing related words Jack Ohman takes a stealth metaphor (rollercoaster) and uses DJT's claim of "on track" to produce a visual/verbal metaphor of note. Let's not ride this one until the tracks are fixed!
More Edward Johnson: "$400 million for Trump’s new gold-plated sky chariot, and another $350 million just to make it functional. . . . I am amazed that Congress let's this happen. They do control the purse strings."
May 7, 2025 at 6:10 PM
More Edward Johnson: "$400 million for Trump’s new gold-plated sky chariot, and another $350 million just to make it functional. . . . I am amazed that Congress let's this happen. They do control the purse strings."
Edward Johnson on DJT's planned new Air Force One: "We didn’t buy a jet—we bought a flying Versailles for an obese Bond villain with dementia. Meanwhile, teachers buy their own supplies and vets live in tents. Welcome aboard Air Fraud One: now boarding ego, grift, and gallons of bronzer." 1/2
May 7, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Edward Johnson on DJT's planned new Air Force One: "We didn’t buy a jet—we bought a flying Versailles for an obese Bond villain with dementia. Meanwhile, teachers buy their own supplies and vets live in tents. Welcome aboard Air Fraud One: now boarding ego, grift, and gallons of bronzer." 1/2
Brooks with a water metaphor for cultural trouble: "The callous tolerance of cruelty is a river that runs through human history. It was dammed up, somewhat, only by millenniums of hard civilizational work. The pagan ethos — ancient or modern — always threatens to unleash brutality once again."
May 4, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Brooks with a water metaphor for cultural trouble: "The callous tolerance of cruelty is a river that runs through human history. It was dammed up, somewhat, only by millenniums of hard civilizational work. The pagan ethos — ancient or modern — always threatens to unleash brutality once again."
The ability to put kryptonite and scaffolding togethre in one potent meme is outstanding. Many thanks @glasslide76 for the IG post!! Well done! #metaphorsandbeyond
April 19, 2025 at 4:17 PM
The ability to put kryptonite and scaffolding togethre in one potent meme is outstanding. Many thanks @glasslide76 for the IG post!! Well done! #metaphorsandbeyond
A New Yorker writer contrasts an exceptionally small user group on Bluesky with the influential dynamics of a social media space wherein hundreds of millions of users interact: "It [PinkSea] is not a digital town square; with perhaps a few hundred active users, it’s barely even a digital dive bar."
April 16, 2025 at 11:33 PM
A New Yorker writer contrasts an exceptionally small user group on Bluesky with the influential dynamics of a social media space wherein hundreds of millions of users interact: "It [PinkSea] is not a digital town square; with perhaps a few hundred active users, it’s barely even a digital dive bar."
So much winning! Some officials you may be observing are scrambling to find such deodorant. Happy searching! #awareoffailure
April 12, 2025 at 8:22 PM
So much winning! Some officials you may be observing are scrambling to find such deodorant. Happy searching! #awareoffailure
Charlotte Alter offers Rep. Jake Auchincloss' (D-MA) comparison to capture the damage done by social media companies to our youth: ". . . we should . . . hold the social media corporations to account for their generational attention-fracking of our youth." Hyphens in comparisons can be powerful!
April 11, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Charlotte Alter offers Rep. Jake Auchincloss' (D-MA) comparison to capture the damage done by social media companies to our youth: ". . . we should . . . hold the social media corporations to account for their generational attention-fracking of our youth." Hyphens in comparisons can be powerful!
This automotive comparison is well worth a serious test drive.
April 5, 2025 at 11:46 PM
This automotive comparison is well worth a serious test drive.
LCheney and AKinzinger used a comparison for a U.S. Representative who got something caught in the ringer: "it’s [fumbling through a public response] the verbal equivalent of checking your pocket for a winning lottery ticket only to realize you’re holding a grocery receipt." Oops! Bad awkward bluff!
March 17, 2025 at 4:12 AM
LCheney and AKinzinger used a comparison for a U.S. Representative who got something caught in the ringer: "it’s [fumbling through a public response] the verbal equivalent of checking your pocket for a winning lottery ticket only to realize you’re holding a grocery receipt." Oops! Bad awkward bluff!
Finally! An analogy that does not involved cars, car parts, or ill-suited "mechanics." Well done, elsteve314159! Thanks to Anna K. for the repost. If you find any other telling analogies concerning recent political/social/cultural trauma, please share! #analogies
February 25, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Finally! An analogy that does not involved cars, car parts, or ill-suited "mechanics." Well done, elsteve314159! Thanks to Anna K. for the repost. If you find any other telling analogies concerning recent political/social/cultural trauma, please share! #analogies
At times, visual metaphors serve to both arrest attention and to bring renewed life to over-used phrases. To wit, this visual metaphor by Carl Godfrey that accompanied a recent article in The Atlantic concerning feeling nostalgia for awful times:
February 20, 2025 at 1:25 AM
At times, visual metaphors serve to both arrest attention and to bring renewed life to over-used phrases. To wit, this visual metaphor by Carl Godfrey that accompanied a recent article in The Atlantic concerning feeling nostalgia for awful times: