Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A Should we avoid "nonsensical" or "unclear" metaphors?

Should we avoid "nonsensical" or "unclear" metaphors? I am not sure if this is a case of "nonsensical" or "unclear" metaphor, but sometimes you have certain phrases that doesn't seem to be suited f...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by blackbird‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T12:10:49Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/45948
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar blackbird‭ · 2019-12-08T12:10:49Z (over 4 years ago)
Should we avoid "nonsensical" or "unclear" metaphors? I am not sure if this is a case of "nonsensical" or "unclear" metaphor, but sometimes you have certain phrases that doesn't seem to be suited for a particular metaphor.

For example:

> They **drifted out of the room** like small clouds in a sunny sky.

Now "drifted out of the room" doesn't make sense for clouds, because clouds just drift away, so is this a case of "nonsensical" or "unclear" metaphors that should be avoided? Because it sounds much better if we use it in a different but similar sentence.

For example:

> They **drifted off into the distance** like small clouds in a sunny sky.

So what do you think? I am not an native English speaker, so I am unsure how "nonsensical" or "unclear" the former sentence sounded like.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-06-13T01:35:34Z (almost 5 years ago)
Original score: 1