Blog 3

It’s interesting how much a person can miss when reading something only once. Even after reading in depth and taking notes, a person would not be able to pick up on everything. Even if they read it three or four times there would be new things to pick out every time. While reading Michael Erard’s article on metaphors for a second time I was able to pull out new ideas that I did not the first time. In class while we were discussing Erard’s text, we talked about how metaphor designer’s make pseudo-mistakes. I really did not notice this part of the passage when I originally read it, so I made sure to be really engaged when I reached this part of the text. Pseudo-mistakes are mistakes that were made on purpose. I feel like it is really hard to imagine a mistake being a planned mistake. It seems like the whole point of the metaphor designer’s job is to create metaphors and to make it seem like these metaphors came out of nowhere, as if they do not have any ulterior motive behind them. It’s almost like the metaphor designer is manipulating the audience to believe the metaphor’s message, without the person even realizing it. Erard even says in his metaphor of metaphors that sometimes the message has to be a bit forced to make it understandable for the audience. It makes sense to think of it this way because these metaphors that are being created are being used in different advertisements and in politics, which are both known for manipulating their audience with the hope that they will support them. Along with picking up this idea of pseudo-mistakes, I was also able to get a better idea of concepts that I did not understand the first time I read the piece. When Erard talked about the furniture in the room metaphor, I had a basic idea of what he was talking about, but I was still kind of confused. The sentence, “maybe the best metaphor needs no furniture,” did not make sense at first. Now after reading the piece for a second time I believe this is a very strong statement that depicts how powerful metaphors can be. I was also able to clear up some confusion when it came  to certain types of metaphors such as conventionalized metaphors, which are metaphors used in language to give structure to a part of the culture. This definition kind of sums up what metaphors are used for in general. Though I believe that I had a basic understanding of how metaphors are used in today’s culture, looking up the definition of conventionalized metaphors did help to solidify this idea. I definitely think that I got more out of Michael Erard’s article the second time I read it. Not only could I keep the information that we talked about in class in mind, but I was also able to refresh the ideas that I previously learned and picked up on new ideas.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•