The Johnny Denovo Mysteries

Yesterday, Johnny received an alert from the New York Times about an article on the topic of metaphors. He handed a copy of it to me later in the day with the brief statement, “They don’t get it. Prescriptive. They aren’t detectives.”

I read the article he’d printed out, and I think I understand what he means. In grammar, one of the fundamental differences lies between people who prescribe rules or those who describe usage. In the deployment of metaphors, a sin in the eyes of the prescriptive school is to mix metaphors. Mixed metaphors are, in their eyes, a sign of sloppy writing.

But to a detective who works with metaphors, the mixing of metaphors is not only natural and welcomed, but it can be revealing. Often, something slips through in the free use of metaphors, the person’s thoughts unconstrained by schoolbook self-consciousness.

One thing this article confirmed for me is how much of our communication is based on metaphor, mixed or pure. And since that’s Johnny’s stock and trade, I foresee a long career.