we implicitly assume that ancient authors could’ve expressed their metaphors in plain and literal prose if they’d wanted to, but > if you read primitive utterances you will soon realize that what we call metaphorical speech was the natural mode of expression for early humans
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Replying to @aaronzlewis
all language is metaphorical! the idea of "literal language" is a confusion (and a metaphor!)
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Replying to @gregoryconan @QiaochuYuan
the dichotomy “literal vs. metaphorical” is itself a product of our current way of thinking about things
and that’s when you hit the strange loop2 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
Replying to @aaronzlewis @gregoryconan
right. let's take a look at "plain and literal" - etymologically "plain" means "flat, even" and "literal" means "having to do with letters and writing"; the extension of those to mean "unembellished" or "direct" is a metaphorical one, and all language is like this
8:19 PM - 11 Jun 2019
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