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More Examples
To be transparent [lexaphor], this page is for examples I liked a lot or seemed useful but I didn't have room for.
Overuse
He lunged for the stage, grabbing and squeezing like a starving caveman at an all-you-can-eat buffet, then went straight for Kimberly, a tall blonde curved like a futurist Italian sculpture. He snatched her right off the stage, tossing her over his shoulder like King Kong. When a waitress protested, he swatted her away like a fly. (The Bouncer, Gordon, page 3)
Four standard-form metaphoricals in only three sentences! That's probably too many metaphoricals; I don't see how to avoid the standard form, but it's still too many of them too. (I don't know what a futurist Italian sculpture is. And isn't the word futuristic?)
Misuse of Literality
The word "literal" is misused so often one dictionary incorporated included the misuse in its definitions.
But Cara felt that Marnie also thought that the conventions were where washed-up stars came to die. Metaphorically, at least. (Fade to Black, Graham, page 15)
Cara is then killed, and we read:
And Cara had just never imagined that – for her, at last – she could be so very right.
That it could be, quit literally, where old stars came to die!
The problem is Cara is not actually old. We are not told her age; I could guess around 40. So, this very nice continuation of a metaphor, flipping from metaphorical to real, is spoiled by breaking the connection.
Continuation
She reminded Mr. Rollins of an overripe peach, and the peach was clearly afraid. (The Promise, Crais, page 1)
So the metaphor is taken back into reality.
Nice
"...and please for God's sake don't mention anything else I've told you."
"I know how to handle it."
"I know you know, but I want to make sure you understand. Everything I told you is strictly off-limts.
"If I understood any better, it would be tattooed on my head."
(The Promise, Crais, page 14)
That's lexaphor and hyperbole.
This Could Be Literal, But . . .
Los Angeles is normally smoggy, but it had rained hard the day before.
I went out to the balcony and studied the view. Most days, I was lucky to see the water, but the hotels and condominiums at the edge of the earth were vivid with morning light, and the peak of Catalina Island was sharp, twenty-six miles to the south. It took a storm to give the world clarity.(The Promise, Crais, page 73)
The last sentence almost fits perfectly into this paragraph, only "view" has been replaced with world, and it was taken to slightly too high of generality to be meant literally.
I do not know what to call this. The "Hidden Metaphor"? (It compares the world to his view.)
Best Continuation
My favorite continuation. Her teacher has asked her to stay afterward to talk to her, on her first day back to school after her step-father's ex-wife was murdered.
If charity is a branch, a line of salvation and mercy that we extend to one another in our darkest hours, then that might be what this [her teacher's comments] is. It isn.t soonthing, and it's not comfort, but in her own bizarre, chiseled way, Sister Timothy is perhaps extending the thinnnest branch. It's enought to make Nenny begin to cry.
"Now,n ow," Sister says as Nenny sniffles ""Let's keep things in perspective. She wasn't your mother, after all."
And there goes the branch.
(Every Other Weekend, Summerfield, page 180)
Other
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