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Chapter 4Sense and Communication Metaphors

• Five Senses: Taste, Smell, Touch, Hearing, Sight– See also Chapter 5: Plant and Food

Metaphors

• Communication: Music, Voice, Writing

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Vocabulary Plus: A Source-Based Approachwww.ablongman.com/nilsen

By Don L. F. Nilsen

And Alleen Pace Nilsen

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Visual Double Entendre

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Black | White Basic Metaphors

Black eye

Black hole in space

Black market

Black out

Black tie event

Blackball someone

Blackbird

Blackboard

Blackjack

Blackmail

Blacksmith

In the black (accounting)

White-collar crime

White elephant gift

The White House

White lie

White lightening (moonshine whiskey)

White out (blizzard)

White sale (linens)(Nilsen & Nilsen 76-77, 96, 99)

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Red | Yellow | BluePrimary-Color Metaphors

Caught red handed

In the red

Red alert

Red-blooded American

Red-eye flight

Red Cross

Red herring

Red-letter day

Redcap

Redcoat

Redhead

Redneck

Reds (Communists)

Redshirting an athlete

Rouge

Stanford Cardinal

Washington Redskins

Roll out the red carpet

---------------

Jaundiced Fr “jaune” yellow

Old Yeller by Fred Gipson

Yellow fever

Yellow Pages

Yellowjacket

Black and blue

Blue chip stocks

Blue collar worker

Bluebird

Bluecoats (Union army)

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Bluegrass state

Blueprint

Blues (New Orleans)

Out of the blue(Nilsen & Nilsen 76-77, 95, 97, 99)

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Green | BrownNatural Metaphors

Green card

Green produce (not ripe)

Green with envy

Greenbacks

Green grocer (sells vegetables)

Greenhouse

Greenhouse effect (atmospheric warming)

Greenlight (traffic)

Greenlight (go-ahead)

Greens (vegetables)

Greens fees (golf)

Brown (name)

Brownies (confection)

Brownies (magical elves)

Brown bag presentation

Brown Betty (apple cobbler)

Brown out

Brownstone brick

(Nilsen & Nilsen 76-77, 97-98)

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Grey | Orange | Pink | PurpleNon-Basic Colors

Gandolf the Grey

Gray winter days

Gray Panthers

Grey beard

Grey matter (brains)

Greyhound

The greying of

America

Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Orange (fruit)

Orangeman Society (North of Ireland)

Pink Bollworm (eats cotton)

Pink-Collar workers (women)

Pinkeye

Pinkie finger

Pinko (Communist leanings)

Tickled pink

Purple Heart

Purple Passage (for writers)

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

(Nilsen & Nilsen 97-98)

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Greek phone (sound)Latin sonus (sound)

Latin cantare (singing)Cacophonous

Euphonious

Microphone

Phonics

Phonograph

Phonology

Symphony

Telephone

Consonant

Resonate

Resounding

Sonata

Sonic boom

Sonnet

Sonogram (in medicine)

Sonorous

Sound idea

Ultrasound

Chant

Chanteys (what sailors sing as they work)

Cantor

Encanto Park

Enchantments

Incantations

(Nilsen & Nilsen 89)

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Latin tonus (tension)as with the vocal folds

Intonation

Monotone

Monotonous

Loony Tunes

Tone (color nuance)

Tone down the confrontation

Tone up the body

Tonette (musical instrument)

Tune (musical piece)

Tune into a radio station

Tune someone in or out

Tune up an instrument(Nilsen & Nilsen 90-91)

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Music | L opus (work) | Gk oide (song)

Bandwagon

Conducting research

Marching to a different drummer

Orchestrating

Magnus Opus

Cf. Chef d’oeuvre (masterpiece)

Cf. Hors d’oeuvre appetizer

Opera L opus (work job)

Opus

Melody

Ode

Parody Gk para (alongside) & oide (song)(Nilsen & Nilsen 91)

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Musical Instruments

Arpegio (played as if on a harp)

Brake drum

Drum stick

Drumming up business

Ear drum

Fiddle sticks

Fiddler crab

Flauta (food)

Fluted collar

Fluted column

Harp seal

Harping about something

Harpsichord

Horn (originally animal’s horn)

Horn of plenty

Horned owl

Hornet

Horny

Lyrical

Lyricist

Lyrics

Organ Pipe Cactus

Pied Piper

Piping(Nilsen & Nilsen 93-94)

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Theatre Words

1st & 2nd stage

Applaud L laud (praise acclaim)

Applause

Laudable

Magna Cum Laude

Summa Cum Laude

Cf: G laut (sound)

Cf: E loud

Offstage

Ovation L ovare (exult)

Stagecoach

Upstaging someone(Nilsen & Nilsen 89, 92)

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Communication Metaphors

Called on the carpet

Cat call

Chat room

Chatterbox

Communicable disease

A cry for help

A crying shame

Something unspeakable

Speakeasy (during prohibition)

Speaker of the House

Taking Communion

To talk (reveal secrets)

Teller’s cage

Walkie Talkie

Within shouting distance (neighbors)

(Nilsen & Nilsen 79-80)

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Etymologies

Obi-Wan Error: HAL IBM

SPAM (Spiced hAM)

USTL (Use the Source, Luke)

Vulcan Nerve Pinch(Nilsen & Nilsen 77-78)

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Latin Dicere (Speak)Latin Jocus (Joke)Latin Lexis (Word)

Dictaphone

Dictator

Dictatorial

Diction

Dictionary

Dictum

Jocund

Joke

The Joker

Juggler

Lexical

Lexicographer

Lexicon(Nilsen & Nilsen 82)

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Latin Loquere (Speak)Latin Plangere (Lament)

Latin Quere (Ask)

Circumlocution

Colloquial

Colloquium

Colloquy

Elocution

Eloquent

Grandiloquence

LoquaciousVentriloquist (Nilsen & Nilsen 84)

Complainant

Complaint

Plaintiff

Plaintive

Query

Quest

Question

Questionable

Inquest

Inquiry

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Latin Onyma (Name)

Acronym

Anonymous

Antonym

Aptronym

Caconym

Cryptonym

Eponym

Euphonym

Heteronym

Homonym

Metonymy

Name

Nickname

Nominal

Nomination

Patronym

Penname

Pseudonym

Stressonym

Synonym

(Nilsen & Nilsen 83)

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Latin Parabola (Comparison)

Parable

Parabola (in geometry)

Parlay a bet F “parler” (speak)

Parley (conference)

Parliament

Parliamentary procedure

Parlor

Parse (a sentence)

Parseltongue (in Harry Potter books)

(Nilsen & Nilsen 83)

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Vox: Latin for Voice

Avocation (hobby)

Equivocation

Invocation

Provoke

Revoked licence

To equivocate

To evoke

To invoke harsh punishment

Vocation

Vox populi

(Nilsen & Nilsen 81)

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Alphabet Shapes

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More Alphabet Shapes

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Germanic Spel (tale) |Latin Scribere (to write) |

Greek Graphein (writing or drawing)Casting a spell

Magic spell

Sit a spell (while)

Spell out (be specific)

Spelling bee

Spell-binding (story teller)

Conscription (army)

Describe

Inscribe

Manuscript

P.S.

Prescription

Scribe

Scribble

Scripted

Scripture

Scrivener

Subscribe

Autograph

Cartography (from René DesCartes)

Demographics

Graffiti

Graph

Graphemes

Graphite

Graphic

Graphologist

Monograph

Polygraph test

(Nilsen & Nilsen 87)

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Latin Signum (mark)Greek Stizein (tattoo)

Latin Rhetorica (oratory)

Assigned

Design

Designate

Ensign (Navy)

Insignia

Resignation

Sign (of things to come)

Signal

Signature

Signet ring

Significant

Signify

Stigma

Stigmata

Stigmatized

Rhetoric

Rhetorical (insignificant)

Rhetorical question

Rhetorician(Nilsen & Nilsen 87-88)

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!Signifying:Christian Fish

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!!Signifying:Christian Aquarium

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!!!Canadian Signifying: Jack and Jacques

discuss English vs. French

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Reference

Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Don L. F. Nilsen. Vocabulary Plus High School and Up: A Source Based Approach. Boston, MA: Parson/Allyn & Bacon, 2004.

www.ablongman.com/nilsen