While on metaphor watch, certain phrases and ideas will recur. Metaphor is one of the broadest figures of speech. I use the Concise Oxford Dictionary (COD), which defines it as a word or phrase applied to something to which it is not literally applicable. That is a wide definition, and other authorities give tighter ones: […]
Category: Metaphor watch
Neville Goodman: Morale is always at rock bottom
We all know that blood pressure is a continuous variable. We measure it with a sphygmomanometer and, within the limits of measurement and its extreme range, blood pressure can be anything: 80/40, 110/60, 125/85, 155/105, or 210/160—though the first and last of this list not for long, one hopes. This hasn’t stopped generations of doctors […]
Neville Goodman: Stemming the rising tide of epidemic proportions
Metaphor is useful. When Malcolm Gladwell wrote about an epidemic of Hush Puppies, no one thought that Hush Puppies were transmissible in anything more than the metaphorical sense. But as doctors we need to be more careful before we muddy the meanings of our technical words. An epidemic is a widespread occurrence of an infectious […]