# Metaphor and analogy

Canonical page: https://dominiklukes.net/topics/metaphor

How metaphors and analogies shape thinking, argument and explanation, and how to use them deliberately.

84 items, newest first.

- [Common misconceptions about Large Language Models and a few literal metaphors](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/what-models-want) (Writing, 2026)
- [How (not) to learn about AI with metaphors: And how to use ChatGPT as a metaphor generation assistant](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/how-learn-ai-metaphors-use-chatgpt-metaphor-generation-dominik-lukes) (Writing, 2023)
- [Learning is a Journey: Consequences of a metaphor](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2022-06-13-learning-is-a-journey-consequences-of-a-metaphor) (Writing, 2022)
- [3 fundamental problems of translating metaphor (or anything else)](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2022-03-06-3-fundamental-problems-of-translating-metaphor-or-anything-else) (Writing, 2022)
- [Metaphors and freedom: On Tolkien's notion of allegory vs applicability](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2021-01-01-metaphors-and-freedom-on-tolkiens-notion-of-allegory-vs-applicability) (Writing, 2021)
- [No back row, no corridor: Metaphors for online teaching and learning](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2020-06-28-no-back-row-no-corridor-metaphors-for-online-teaching-and-learning) (Writing, 2020)
- [Fruit loops and metaphors: Metaphors are not about explaining the abstract through concrete but about the dynamic process of negotiated sensemaking](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2019-07-14-fruit-loops-and-metaphors-metaphors-are-not-about-explaining-the-abst) (Writing, 2019)
- [5 kinds of understanding and metaphors: Missing pieces in pedagogical taxonomies](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2019-06-14-5-kinds-of-understanding-and-metaphors-missing-pieces-in-pedagogical-) (Writing, 2019)
- [Explanation is an event, understanding is a process: How (not) to explain anything with metaphor](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2019-05-29-explanation-is-an-event-understanding-is-a-process-how-not-to-explain) (Writing, 2019)
- [Cats and butterflies: 2 misunderstood analogies in scientistic discourse](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2018-11-08-cats-and-butterflies-2-misunderstood-analogies-in-scientistic-discour) (Writing, 2018)
- [3 burning issues in the study of metaphor](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2018-11-07-3-burning-issues-in-the-study-of-metaphor) (Writing, 2018)
- [Innovation is bad for business: 3 more ‘I’ words to compare innovation to](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2018-10-16-innovation-is-bad-for-business-3-more-i-words-to-compare-innovation-t) (Writing, 2018)
- [Not ships in the night: Metaphor and simile as process](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2018-05-22-not-ships-in-the-night-metaphor-and-simile-as-process) (Writing, 2018)
- [How to read ‘Women, Fire and Dangerous Things’: Guide to essential reading on human cognition](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2018-05-16-how-to-read-women-fire-and-dangerous-things-guide-to-essential-readin) (Writing, 2018)
- [10 ways in which music is like language and 8 (more important) ways in which it is not](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2018-03-19-10-ways-in-which-music-is-like-language-and-8-more-important-ways-in-) (Writing, 2018)
- [Repaved paths and generative metaphors: Expressing human purposes with technology](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2016-06-23-repaved-paths-and-generative-metaphors-expressing-human-purposes-with) (Writing, 2016)
- [If teachers are actors, is instructional design stage directions? Exploration of a metaphor.](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2016-02-16-if-teachers-are-actors-is-instructional-design-stage-directions-explo) (Writing, 2016)
- [Anthropologists' metaphorical shenanigans: Or how (not) to research metaphor](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2014-08-03-anthropologists-metaphorical-shenanigans-or-how-not-to-research-metap) (Writing, 2014)
- [What is not a metaphor: Modelling the world through language, thought, science, or action](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2014-03-04-what-is-not-a-metaphor-modelling-the-world-through-language-thought-s) (Writing, 2014)
- [Binders full of women with mighty pens: What is metonymy](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2013-12-14-binders-full-of-women-with-mighty-pens-what-is-metonymy) (Writing, 2013)
- [Pervasiveness of Obliging Metaphors in Thought and Deed](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2013-10-27-pervasiveness-of-oblidging-metaphors-in-thought-and-deed) (Writing, 2013)
- [How we use metaphors](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2013-04-13-how-we-use-metaphors) (Writing, 2013)
- [Cliches, information and metaphors: Overcoming prejudice with metahor hacking and getting it back again](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2012-08-26-cliches-information-and-metaphors-overcoming-prejudice-with-metahor-h) (Writing, 2012)
- [Character Assasination through Metaphoric Pomposity: When one metaphor is not enough](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2012-07-22-character-assasination-through-metaphoric-pomposity-when-one-metaphor) (Writing, 2012)
- [RaAM 9 Abstract: Of Doves and Cocks: Collective Negotiation of a Metaphoric Seduction](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2012-03-31-raam-9-abstract-of-doves-and-cocks-collective-negotiation-of-a-metaph) (Writing, 2012)
- [Moral Compass Metaphor Points to Surprising Places](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2011-11-02-moral-compass-metaphor-points-to-surprising-places) (Writing, 2011)
- [The death of a memory: Missing metaphors of remembering and forgetting?](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2011-07-10-the-death-of-a-memory-missing-metaphors-of-remembering-and-forgetting) (Writing, 2011)
- [Killer App is a bad metaphor for historical trends, good for pseudoteaching](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2011-06-03-killer-app-is-a-bad-metaphor-for-historical-trends-good-for-pseudotea) (Writing, 2011)
- [Poetry without metaphor? Sure but can it darn your socks?](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2011-04-24-poetry-without-metaphor-sure-but-can-it-darn-your-socks) (Writing, 2011)
- [Why don't metaphorical hawks kill metaphorical doves?](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2011-04-03-why-dont-metaphorical-hawks-kill-metaphorical-doves) (Writing, 2011)
- [The most ridiculous metaphor of education courtesy of an economics professor](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2011-02-20-the-most-ridiculous-metaphor-of-education) (Writing, 2011)
- [Metaphor is my co-pilot: How the literal and metaphorical rely on the same type of knowledge](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2010-08-06-metaphor-is-my-co-pilot-how-the-literal-and-metaphorical-rely-on-the-) (Writing, 2010)
- [The Tortoise and the Hare: Analogy for Academia in the Digital World?](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2010-08-04-the-tortoise-and-the-hare-analogy-for-academia-in-the-digital-world) (Writing, 2010)
- [Why ideas aren't enough to solve the Palestine-Israeli conflict](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2010-07-30-why-ideas-arent-enough-to-solve-the-palestine-israeli-conflict) (Writing, 2010)
- [What it's not about so much about](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2010-07-21-what-its-not-about-so-much) (Writing, 2010)
- [Hacking a metaphor in five steps](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2010-07-18-hacking-a-metaphor-in-five-steps) (Writing, 2010)
- [What it’s all About](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2010-07-18-what-its-all-about) (Writing, 2010)
- [Research Swarm - An Interesting Metaphor](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2010-07-05-research-swarm-an-interesting-metaphor) (Writing, 2010)
- [Review of Verena Haser, Metaphor, Metonymy and Experientialist Philosophy: Challenging Cognitive Semantics](https://dominiklukes.net/research/haser-review) (Research, 2008)
- [Paradox of the evolutionary metaphor in language death](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2007-08-24-the-paradoxical-evolutionary-scenarios-and-language-death) (Writing, 2007)
- [Anecdotes, metaphors and the negotiated truth](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2007-08-11-anecdotes-metaphors-and-the-negotiated-truth) (Writing, 2007)
- [Metaphoric inferencing in action and the negotiation of interpretive privilege](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2007-08-11-metaphoric-inferencing-in-action-and-the-negotiation-of-interpretive-) (Writing, 2007)
- [Schematic imagery as euphemistic framing in war news reporting](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2007-08-07-schematic-imagery-as-euphemistic-framing-in-war-news-reporting) (Writing, 2007)
- [Opportunism and power of analogical mapping](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2007-07-02-opportunism-and-power-of-analogical-mapping) (Writing, 2007)
- [Generative analogies as negotiation devices](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2007-06-30-generative-analogies-as-negotiation-devices) (Writing, 2007)
- [Rejection of metaphor](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2007-06-17-rejection-of-metaphor) (Writing, 2007)
- [The analogical instinct](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2007-05-08-the-analogical-instinct) (Writing, 2007)
- [The Market Metaphor in Education](https://dominiklukes.net/speaking/the-market-metaphor-in-education-2007) (Talks, 2007)
- [Metaphor hypostasis as a cohesive device](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2007-04-27-metaphor-hypostasis-as-a-cohesive-device) (Writing, 2007)
- [Negotiating vocabulary and the logic of analogy](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2007-03-23-negotiating-vocabulary-and-the-logic-of-analogy) (Writing, 2007)
- [Negotiating metaphoric mappings in advertising](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2007-03-10-negotiating-metaphoric-mappings-in-advertising) (Writing, 2007)
- [Analogy as ritually rhetorical device and 9/11 symbolisms](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2007-01-29-analogy-as-ritually-rhetorical-device-and-911-symbolisms) (Writing, 2007)
- [What 'Hillary' should have said: Indeterminacy of metaphor integration](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2007-01-29-what-hillary-should-have-said-indeterminacy-of-metaphor-integration) (Writing, 2007)
- [Death by analogy](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2007-01-17-death-by-analogy) (Writing, 2007)
- [The marketplace in education: The multiplicity of metaphor in discourse](https://dominiklukes.net/research/marketplace-education) (Research, 2007)
- [Of dicks and doves: Team America cognitive semireview](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2006-10-29-of-dicks-and-doves) (Writing, 2006)
- [Analogies in public discourse: Negotiation of Frames and Hypostasis of Channels](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2006-10-21-analogies-in-public-discourse-negotiation-of-frames-and-hypostasis-of) (Writing, 2006)
- [Accuracy of metaphor and debates](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2006-09-16-accuracy-of-metaphor-and-debates) (Writing, 2006)
- [Feminism as Islam](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2006-05-11-feminism-as-islam) (Writing, 2006)
- [Extension of 'diversity' as a conservationist metaphor](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2006-04-27-cbc-radio-quirks-quarks-april-8-2006) (Writing, 2006)
- [City as metaphor for visual aspects online design](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2006-01-06-a-list-apart-articles-thinking-outside-the-grid) (Writing, 2006)
- [Discover Music through The Music Genome Project by Pandora](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2006-01-06-discover-music-through-the-music-genome-project-by-pandora) (Writing, 2006)
- [Florida high court kills school voucher program](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2006-01-06-florida-high-court-kills-school-voucher-program) (Writing, 2006)
- [Analogies and blends - new category old ideas](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2006-01-01-analogies-new-category-old-ideas) (Writing, 2006)
- [Společenský kapitál: Metafory občanské společnosti](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/spolecensky-kapital-metafory-obcanske-spolecnosti) (Writing, 2006)
- [Creation of meaning and music analogies](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2005-12-25-creation-of-meaning-and-music-analogies) (Writing, 2005)
- [Ad-hoc metaphors as cohesive devices](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2005-11-22-ad-hoc-metaphors) (Writing, 2005)
- [The Bosnian Example for Iraq](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/2005-11-21-the-bosnian-example-for-iraq) (Writing, 2005)
- [Kauzy a příčiny: metafory politického chápání](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/kauzy-a-priciny-metafory-politickeho-chapani) (Writing, 2005)
- [Metaphors in Education](https://dominiklukes.net/research/metaphors-education) (Research, 2005)
- [Metaphors of causality and containment: A cognitive challenge to the social sciences](https://dominiklukes.net/research/causality-containment) (Research, 2005)
- [Towards a Classification of Metaphor Use](https://dominiklukes.net/research/towards-a-classification-of-metaphor-use) (Research, 2005)
- [Towards a classification of metaphor use in text: Issues in conceptual discourse analysis of a domain-specific corpus](https://dominiklukes.net/research/classification-metaphor) (Research, 2005)
- [Kam se poděla válka?](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/kam-se-podela-valka) (Writing, 2003)
- [Válka v tropech](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/valka-v-tropech) (Writing, 2003)
- [Levá a pravá hemisféra](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/leva-a-prava-hemisfera) (Writing, 2001)
- [Jak vypadá vítězství terorismu?](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/jak-vypada-vitezstvi-terorismu) (Writing, undated)
- [Magie - sestra vzdělávání](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/magie-sestra-vzdelavani) (Writing, undated)
- [Metafora trhu ve vzdělávání aneb konec bohemistiky za kanálem?](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/metafora-trhu-ve-vzdelavani-aneb-konec-bohemistiky-za-kanalem) (Writing, undated)
- [Metafory intelektualniho vlastnictvi](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/metafory-intelektualniho-vlastnictvi) (Writing, undated)
- [metaphor](https://dominiklukes.net/agents/skills/metaphor) (Agent skills, undated)
- [MetaphorHacker](https://dominiklukes.net/webs/metaphorhacker) (Websites, undated)
- [Metaphornik](https://dominiklukes.net/apps/metaphornik) (Apps, undated)
- [To za Saddáma nebylo](https://dominiklukes.net/writing/to-za-saddama-nebylo) (Writing, undated)

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