“Block That Metaphor”
was a feature The New Yorker invented. It consisted of an excerpt from one source or another in which a flock of metaphors were running wild. That speciality of the great magazine seems to have been put out to pasture, and so I would like to resurrect it here. Here are a couple for starts (along with the examples I have included in this introduction).
“Astronomers Dig Up the Stars That Birthed the Milky Way.”
QUANTA MAGAZINE, March 28, 2023.
WSJ NEWS EXCLUSIVE
“A New Jersey Home Dripping With Hermès Wallpaper Asks $5.475 Million.”
“Obama throws down gauntlet at fiscal cliff.” (November 10, 2012, Salon)
Here’s a real jailbreak:
“Because we’re in the early innings of the sea change, this space is ripe for active players: . . .” Morningstar February 11, 2012.
Here’s one from The New York Times:
“New York’s hottest ticket is a library card: A wave of free passes to the city’s museums and institutions has been snatched up. The next round will be available on Aug. 1. NY Times July 22, 2018.
A beauty from Briefing.com, March 6, 2019:
“Weakness in semiconductor spaceMicron (MU 37.79, -2.20, -5.5%) leading group lower, as it gets hit by caustic update from Cleveland Research, which lowered its revenue estimates citing increased pricing headwinds,. . .”
“On Thursday, Egyptian officials announced the discovery of a hidden corridor above the pyramid’s entrance. Measuring 30 feet long, the passage could serve as a jumping-off point for additional research into the mysterious inner chambers.
“Anything with a z value higher than 10 exists within the first few hundred million years of the universe, and so far the only confirmed galaxy in that range is GN-z11, which was measured by the Hubble and Keck I telescopes to have a z of around 11. CEERS-93316 however blows it out of the water, with a z of 16.7.
“Prime Minister Race in Britain Remains Unsettled in Wake of Johnson’s Downfall.”
“With the passing of this staggering milestone, Tanaka remains the oldest person in the world.”
“My proposal will overhaul the tax code to level the playing field for the middle-class by closing loopholes that let America’s wealthiest get away without paying taxes on their primary source of income.”
HOLD THAT METAPHOR! “‘WHILE THIS IS NOT THE HOLE-IN-ONE WE HOPED FOR, THERE IS ALWAYS RISK WITH BREAKING NEW GROUND,” SAYS THOMAS ZURBUCHEN, ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR OF NASA’S SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE, IN A STATEMENT.’”
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