Criticism of Mixed Metaphors Hits the Nail on the Nose at the Drop of a Dime
Alexander Rosenberg
Issue date: 12/4/09 Section: Opinion
To the Editor:
In this day or age, students who are mixing metaphors like there's no tomorrow are going out of style, and as much as I hate to be a Monday morning armchair quarterback pitching in his two cents, I think the practice confuses the bejesus out of all outdoors. I therefore sing the applause of Dustin Howard's opinion piece (November 15, "Mixing Metaphors is Like Comparing Oil and Water to Oranges!"), which sure was music for sore eyes. But as good as that was, I think it's important that we don't count our chickens before we leap, because we might find ourselves up the creek without a paddle after throwing the baby out with the bathwater. When push comes to shove, the litmus test of whether we're between a rock and a hard place will rear its ugly head, and we'll see if banning mixed metaphors has students crawling the walls on a witch hunt for something to say that's fresh as a daisy. Mixed metaphors may be a fox in the henhouse come home to roost, but I hope we run like the wind on a wild goose chase from the red-letter day when the writing that dreams are made of finally kicks the bucket.
Sincerely,
Eldridge Sutton '10
In this day or age, students who are mixing metaphors like there's no tomorrow are going out of style, and as much as I hate to be a Monday morning armchair quarterback pitching in his two cents, I think the practice confuses the bejesus out of all outdoors. I therefore sing the applause of Dustin Howard's opinion piece (November 15, "Mixing Metaphors is Like Comparing Oil and Water to Oranges!"), which sure was music for sore eyes. But as good as that was, I think it's important that we don't count our chickens before we leap, because we might find ourselves up the creek without a paddle after throwing the baby out with the bathwater. When push comes to shove, the litmus test of whether we're between a rock and a hard place will rear its ugly head, and we'll see if banning mixed metaphors has students crawling the walls on a witch hunt for something to say that's fresh as a daisy. Mixed metaphors may be a fox in the henhouse come home to roost, but I hope we run like the wind on a wild goose chase from the red-letter day when the writing that dreams are made of finally kicks the bucket.
Sincerely,
Eldridge Sutton '10
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charcoal grills
posted 3/29/10 @ 10:53 AM EST
Good scene, interesting post, thanks.
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