hello readers we've got a bear of a
lesson today and it's all about
figurative language sorry I should back
up I know I said we have a bear of a
lesson
I don't literally mean that I've got a
bear that would be extremely sweet love
a bear love bears whole thing with the
snacking in the sleeping in the eating
of fish but no a bear of is a figurative
expression that means something
difficult so a bear of a lesson is a
difficult lesson and that's what we're
talking about today not bears sorry but
non-literal uses of language which we
call figurative language or figures of
speech figurative language says one
thing but means another I could say that
my colleague Allison is an eagle-eyed
editor and when I say that I don't mean
that she literally has an eagle's eyes
in her head that would be a terrifying
achievement of medical science no I'm
saying that she is sharp and attentive
in the same way that an eagle is so I'm
saying something that is not literally
true in order to express something that
is true that Allison is good at editing
would you call that a lie I'm not sure I
would it's just a non-literal way of
expressing myself so having gotten the
question of whether or not I'm a dirty
rotten liar out of the way let's talk
about some different varieties a
figurative language first the simile a
simile is a comparison between two
things that uses like or as if I were
really hungry I could say that my
stomach was gurgling like a tar pit or
that I was as hungry as a ravenous wolf
and again neither of these things are
literally true if my stomach we're
making actual tar pit noises I would
probably need to go to a hospital but
what do those examples tell you about
the way that I the speaker think about
my hunger animals and people get stuck
in tar pits they're gloppy they pull
things into them they slow things down
sorry t-rex therefore I'm saying that my
hunger is slowing me down or if I'm
comparing myself to a wolf you can
imagine me looking lean and desperate
saliva dripping from my jaws at the mere
thought of food I could really go for a
cheese danish come to think of it so
that's simile the second figure of
speech I want to talk about today is the
metal
and what's a metaphor cows and sheep
sorry I couldn't help it no a metaphor
is not a meadow for metaphors are
another way of comparing two things but
this time there's no like or as we're
walking this language tightrope without
a net now you aren't signaling with like
or as that you're making a figurative
comparison so you have to use context to
communicate clearly at the beginning of
this video I said this was going to be a
bear of a lesson that's a metaphor
there's a Linda Ronstadt country song
from the 70s called love is a rose which
is all about how to take care of a
relationship through the metaphor of
tending a flower with thorns on it the
difference between my stomach is
gurgling like a tar pit and my stomach
is a gurgling carpet is the difference
between simile and metaphor simile uses
that like or as comparison
whereas metaphor just straightforwardly
says thing X is the thing Y love is a
rose my tummy's a tar pit which was not
nearly as successful of a song another
way to use figurative language is
personification which let's just break
that word down it means to describe
something as though it were a person to
say that differently it's ascribing
human characteristics to nonliving
things the wind howled through the
mountains the car grumbled as I threw it
into gear the storm raged these are
things that people do but I'm applying
that language to inanimate things like
wind and cars and storms in order to
express the way these things are
behaving the car is not literally
grumbling on man I can't believe David
has that drive me today it's making
noises that I am choosing to identify as
unhappy the greatest kind of figurative
language in the entire universe is
hyperbole by exaggerating I'm expressing
emphasis and importance this summer I'm
going to read a million books and eat a
literal actual ton of hot dogs this is
not true in fact this is impossible that
is too many hot dogs those are too many
books each of which are sentences I
never expected to say but I'm trying to
express my enthusiasm for both books
and encased meats and I'm doing that by
being you know extra the final kind of
expressive language I want to talk about
today isn't exactly figurative language
it's the language of allusions and
references where you make comparisons to
characters or events from literature or
movies or culture also note that it's
allusion with an a as opposed to
allusion with an eye an allusion with an
eye is like a magic trick here are some
examples of illusions oh you'd have to
be Superman to lift that fallen tree or
you have a golem like obsession with
that stuffed animal now these
comparisons only work if the person
you're talking to understands the
reference
Superman has super-strength Gollum from
The Lord of the Rings can't stop talking
about how much he loves this one object
of the Ring if you don't know the
reference then it's all just noise one
tip is to read up on mythology you'd be
surprised how many times ancient gods
like Zeus Poseidon and Apollo come up as
you read so that's what we're working
with here simile love is like a rose
metaphor love is a rose personification
my car grumbled hyperbole my mom
grounded me for eight trillion years and
illusion I feel mightier than Hercules
that's figurative language folks you can
learn anything David out