On May 4, 5:10=A0am, Bob LeChevalier <loj...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> "michalc...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
" <michalc...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >I remember always hating the song "love is something..." which had the
> >following analogy,
>
> >"its just like a magic penny
> >hold it tight and you won't have any
> >lend it, spend it, give it away,
> >and it comes right back to you."
>
> >There is no such thing as a magic penny and nobody has an experience
> >with one, so using it as an example clarifies nothing and in fact
> >confuses the situation since people start trying to incor****ate thier
> >knowlege of ordinary pennies into their understanding.
>
> One needs no magic pennies to understand the poem. =A0One does need to
> know what a real penny is, and how it can be used.
>
> Poetry has the tendency to try to say things in ways which sound nice
> and elegant, and which make perfect sense if you see the words in the
> right way. =A0"Like" here is actually used to stress similarity. "Magic"
> is used to stress that the analogy can be understood in terms of the
> real world object, but has contrasts that differ from the real world
> object in ways that might seem contrary to reason.
>
> Reread those words a little differently, and you might like the song
> better:
> Love is like a penny in that one can speak of it using the same action
> words which carry analogical meaning: one can hold it tight, lend it,
> spend it, and give it away.
> Love is NOT like a penny (and hence magical) in that these actions
> have the opposite effect as with a physical object - if you hold it
> tight, you soon don't have it, whereas if you lend it, spend it or
> give it away, it comes back to you.
>
> But that phrasing, while it perhaps makes more sense, is not poetic at
> all.
>
> Sounds like an excellent example for studying the use of figurative
> language.
>
> lojbab
> Bob LeChevalier - artificial linguist; genealogist
> loj...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
=A0 Lojban languagewww.lojban.org
Ok, I agree it makes sense from that stand point, but I still hold to
the idea that using an unrealistic analogy is a bad way to teach
something.
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