Literally figurative

It is interesting how often we understand the meaning of a saying - i.e., an analogy or metaphor - but forget about its literal meaning. Actually, sayings are - per se - interesting, whether we call them metaphors, aphorisms, analogies, maxims, similes, adages, witticisms, axioms, clichés, saws, epigrams, one-liners, proverbs, figures of speech, or idioms. And yes, I know these all have slight nuances in definition, but most of us would see these as being largely the same. And that 'same' is nicely epigrammed as "a crystallised summary of popular wisdom or fancy" (Apperson et al., 2006, p. 5).

How do these things arise? These are things which can be more broadly "understood in other than their literal significance" (Lurie, 1968, p. iii): pithy phrases which convey rich meaning in shorthand that captures the imagination of those who hear it. They grow from the literal to the figurative (Johnson, 2016).

However, that shorthand can also lead to overuse. And that changes our tolerance for such sayings, known as 'semantic satiation'. What a great term: this is where our sayings "become less meaningful as a [result of their] function of repetition" (Black, 2003, p. 63). The act of repeat after repeat after repeat means the sayings lose impact. Think of "All roads lead to Rome" (Apperson et al., 2006, p. 17) which has been flogged like the dead horse it is.

It is not only familiarity and time which changes our perspective. Over time meaning drifts as well, allowing us to apply a saying to a band of similar experiences, rather than simply describing the original event. For example, the "All roads lead to Rome" saying no longer means anything because Rome is no longer the centre of the known world. Or the aphorism "the canary in the mineshaft" once literally meant potentially sacrificing a canary by lowering a cage down the mineshaft, so if it came up alive, the miners knew the air was sweet below. The mine was safe for workers. However, today, "the canary" is not about a dead bird to show safety, but "the canary in the mineshaft [...] is a signal of danger[, ... an early warning] signal [...] that we need to take [something in our immediate environment] seriously" (Hollnger, 2021). More modern legal usage is where lawyers may see "the jury is the canary in the mine shaft; if it goes, if our people lose their inherited right to do justice in court, other democratic institutions will lose breath too" (Burns, 2007, p. 8).

Something we say, formed over time, usually began by describing a particular event, such as the "ring, a ring o' roses" rhyming child's ring dance, where increased knowledge of the plague and conspiracy theorists linked in the 20th century linked "the pocket full of posies" to the futile herb bundles we carried to ward off the black death, and "A-tishoo, a-tishoo, we all fall down" to the arrival of illness and the immediacy of death (Ferguson, 2018). But this is an etymological fallacy: it was always just a ring dance, and had nothing to do with the plague (Fergusson, 2018).

So sayings not only have drift due to time, saturation and fallacy, the speed of meaning drift may increase, too. It appears that our digital world may be a key driver here... and interestingly, the computer age has provided us with a great saying: "garbage in, garbage out" (Simpson, 1982, as cited by Speake, 2008).

Sam

References:

Apperson, G. L., Manser, M. H., Curtis, S. J. (2006). Dictionary of Proverbs (new ed.). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.

Black, S. R. (2004). Chapter 4: Review of Semantic Satiation. In S. P. Shohov (Ed.), Advances in Psychology Research (Vol. 26, pp. 63-74). Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Burns, R. P. (2007). The Death of the American Trial. University of Chicago Press.

Gross, J. (1987). The Oxford Book of Aphorisms. Oxford University Press.

Grothe, M. (2008). I Never Met a Metaphor I Didn't Like: A Comprehensive Compilation of History's Greatest Analogies, Metaphors, and Similes. HarperCollins.

Hollnger, P. C. (2021, November 30). Why Physical Punishment Persists: Ignorance of early child development enables physical punishment. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/great-kids-great-parents/202111/why-physical-punishment-persists

Johnson, R. (2016). Understanding Sayings: Figuratively speaking. Crabtree Publishing Company.

Lurie, C. N. (1968). Everyday sayings: their meanings explained, their origins given. Gale Research Co.

Speake, J. (Ed.). (2008). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.