The Johnny Denovo Mysteries

Stephen Colbert interviewed Yale poet Elizabeth Alexander the day after she delivered her poem at the Inauguration of President Obama. In this interview, he peppered Alexander about metaphors, complaining that they are lies.

While Colbert is being ironic, what followed was still interesting to observe, as he used metaphor after metaphor as examples of non-metaphorical statements. His deftness at inserting these and the way they almost pass by as non-metaphorical gives testament to how soaked our language is in metaphor.

Colbert is the prime satirist of our time. This interview, for those of us attuned to how metaphors shape our thinking, is proof of his range. Even Johnny was impressed.