How to Use Metaphors and Similes to Sound Brilliant

Want to sound smart? Do you want to impress people in conversation? It has been said that the brilliant mind shows itself most clearly in its use of metaphors and analogies. Fine... but how do you come up with them? Believe it or not, you can learn to use metaphors and analogies in everyday conversation and elsewhere.

This article will help you:
* Improve your public speaking ability.
* Add a wow factor to your business presentation.
* Help people see what you are saying, not just hear it.
* Increase your intelligence in other people's mind.
* Solve every problem in life you ever had!

Well, okay, that last one isn't quite true. I just wanted to make sure you were still with me.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. 
   I fell into a steaming pile of ...

   FIRST, UNDERSTAND WHAT A METAPHOR IS AND WHAT IT DOES.
   
   Paul Ricoeur, whom you really don't care about (really), was a brilliant French philosopher of the last century (yawn) who wrote on metaphors. He claimed that metaphors work by bringing two seemingly different things together to create word shock. (Okay he said 'semantic shock' but who knows what that means?)
   
   Obviously HE is using a metaphor. Shock. It's a visual and gut level term to describe a certain emotion. It's taken from electricity - zap. So metaphors work by zapping us awake. They jolt us into attention. More than just jolt us into attention, they create space for people to think and imagine in new ways. That is, of course, unless they are cliche. It would have been a simile if he just said metaphors are LIKE semantic shock, or act AS a shock.
   
   You are listening you friend talk on and on and it starts to sounds like 'blah, blah, flipping blah' until all of the sudden she says 'it was like I fell into a pile of steaming...' Now she has your attention...and you can think in new ways about what just happened to her.

2. 

   SO START SLAPPING STRANGE THINGS TOGETHER.
   
   Okay sounding like a genius using metaphors is a little more complicated than slapping things together, but not much. Here's how to make it more systematic until you get the hang of it. Think of the relationship between two things you want to talk about that you think of as related normally.
   
   **This article stinks** So, let's say you want to talk about this article and how it stinks. So how about this article and my other articles (some of which can be found to the right and down, others by clicking on my name up top). Put it in the form of the analogies on the SAT...
   
   This article is to Dave's other articles....
   
   Now brainstorm something wacky that seems totally unrelated. Hmmm... cat. I don't like cats (sorry friends) . So that has NOTHING to do with my articles. I will NEVER write on cats.
   
   * A little footnote...all this comes from Aristotle's Poetics in case you care. But I wouldn't if I were you.

3. COMPARE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRANGE THINGS TO CREATE A METAPHOR.
   
   Now just insert cat into the next part of the basic form of an analogy:
   
   This article is to Dave's 125 other articles as...
   A cat is to ....
   
   Now brainstorm something that FITS the relationship between this article and my other ones.
   - A cat is to water (just don't fit or enjoy each other)
   - A cat is to a dog (opposed enemies)
   - A cat is to the animal kingdom (small to large)
   
   I like that last one. So here is the relationship I had in mind put into an analogy: Hating Dave's writing because he wrote this stupid article would be like deciding to hate all the animals in the world just because a cat peed on your flower bed. Or you could reverse it depending on how you feel about my writing: Hating this article just because the rest of Dave's articles reek would be like hating cats just because every other animal has done you wrong.
   Give it a chance!

4. 
   Now you Can Dress Normally

   NOW YOU TRY IT WITH SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT
   
   Go ahead, try to come up with an analogy or a metaphor (metaphors just leave out 'like').
   
   Think of your next business presentation, your next sales meeting, your next article you will write, or the next hard conversation with your spouse. Go through these steps and you will have a gripping (even shocking) metaphor.
   
   - Think of two things you are talking about that go together normally.
   - Put them into the form of a relationship (x is to y)
   - Slap something strange together with them (x is to y as butter is to ...)
   - Add a final concept or word that describes the relationship between x and y in new ways.
   
   SHOCKING...you are BRILLIANT!

Tips & Warnings

• Play with this often and practice it until it becomes natural.
• Eventually you won't go through the steps, it will just come on you in a sudden storm of brilliance (metaphor) like the wave that comes in closer than the rest and catches your friends off guard (analogy).
• Don't try to turn everything into a metaphor.

Resources

• Dave's Other Writing
• Your Make More Money on Ehow Guide
• Sell Your Own eBooks and Make Money from Home

[zoetical]

on 6/8/2009 Enjoyed this article--it was, what's the word . . . electric! (Okay, so I need to practice, ha, ha. )Definitely 5*

[sonni57]

on 4/25/2009 Using metaphors is a great way to improve writing thanks for the helpful article.

[jujudy]

on 4/25/2009 Some of my favorite metaphors are the ones that have to do with describing a person's LACK of brilliance. Like, "He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer," or "tack in the box." Or, "His elevator doesn't go all the way up." I always smile when I hear one of these, but I've never thought of one myself. Maybe after reading your article on using metaphors I'll come up with one. (Smile) But I do have one for you: Your articles are like cracker jacks. There's always a prize inside. 5*s