crummer%AEROSPACE@sri-unix.UUCP (04/11/84)
From: Charlie Crummer <crummer@AEROSPACE> The thing about a metaphor is that it contains little explicit information. It acts as a trigger in such a way that the hearer creates meaning for it. Different hearers create different meanings. For example, one hearer, drawing from his background as an environmentalist might take "Man is a Wolf" to mean that man has a wild, misunderstood soul while another hearer, drawing from his background as a mountain man who has had to compete with wolves might take the metaphor to mean that he himself is a savage beast that will kill, if necessary, to live. It becomes pretty far-fetched to make up a model of "metaphor" that says that this information is contained in the statement of the metaphor. --Charlie