I've been lax on the posting. Oh, well, I'm back. Here's what I was reading while I wasn't posting. Happy New Year!
Trekka Round the World by John Guzzwell
If your interests include boat building, offshore sailing and travel, this is a decent read.
Rating: Recommended
Stein on Writing by Sol Stein
Rating: Recommended
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
I really liked this book - and it's short! Really get into the head of the main character.
Rating: Recommended
The Constant Gardener by John Le Carré
Rating: YMMV
[amtap book:asin=0938665561]
[amtap book:asin=0312254210]
[amtap book:asin=1400032717]
[amtap book:asin=0743287207]
Kat,
Tell me what is the difference between metaphor, analogy and simile? Especially analogy.
The last time I took an English course was in the late 1980s. So I wouldn't call myself an expert ;-)
Metaphor (in bold), simile (in italics):
My cat's racing stripes trail back from his eyes like smoke after you blow out a candle.
My cat doesn't actually have racing stripes, cars do, but it (hopefully) gives you a better sense of what he looks like. I'm *really* bad at metaphors at the moment.
And the analogy:
How hard is it for me to come up with a good metaphor? When I have to deliver a new software design, I get a tight feeling in the pit of my stomach, stare at the screen with an empty head, scribble some shorthand pseudocode into my notebook, and scratch out the mistakes, until something clicks in my head and everything falls into place like gears in an elegant machine. Then I second guess the whole thing even after the product has shipped. Coming up with a metaphor for me is similar. It doesn't come without hard work, and I'm never sure if I've done it right until it's tested.
--
My Oxford says metaphor and simile are both figures of speech. Similes compare two different things using the words "like" or "as" in order to describe the first thing more vividly. Metaphor uses words that usually wouldn't go together literally to produce new meaning. The definition of analogy looks almost identical to the definition of simile; my personal interpretation is analogy isn't just a figure of speech, but might be longer-winded.