--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Metaphor is, as a common feature of…" description: "\"Metaphor is, as a common feature of linguistic practice, an incidental expediency, a homely administering of first-aid by mother-wit to jams or halts i..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e69/laura-riding-9995_aids_metaphor-is-as-a-common-feature-of-lingu_2634217.png" --- # Metaphor is, as a common feature of linguistic practice… ![“Metaphor is, as a common feature of linguistic practice, an incidental expediency, a homely administering of first-aid by mother-wit to jams or halts in expression suddenly confronting speakers, with no respectable linguistic solution immediately in sight.” quote by Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e69/laura-riding-9995_aids_metaphor-is-as-a-common-feature-of-lingu_2634217.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e69/laura-riding-9995_aids_metaphor-is-as-a-common-feature-of-lingu_2634217.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e69/laura-riding-9995_aids_metaphor-is-as-a-common-feature-of-lingu_2634217.png) > “Metaphor is, as a common feature of linguistic practice, an incidental expediency, a homely administering of first-aid by mother-wit to jams or halts in expression suddenly confronting speakers, with no respectable linguistic solution immediately in sight.” [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Metaphor is a practical, spontaneous tool for filling linguistic gaps. **In simple terms:** Metaphor is a handy linguistic aid. Key Takeaway Use metaphor to clarify thought. Themes language metaphor communication Mood thoughtful educational Type linguistic practical When to use this quote - teaching language - writing workshops - public speaking Key Concepts cognitive linguistics creative expression problem solving Questions to Reflect On - When does metaphor become misleading? - How can metaphor enhance understanding? A Different Perspective May oversimplify complex ideas. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Expression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expression/) [Incidental](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/incidental/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Metaphor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphor/) [Mother](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mother/) [Mother wit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mother-wit/) [Practice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/practice/) [Wit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wit/) ## Related quotes > [Listen carefully to what country people call mother wit. In those homely sayings are couched the collective wisdom of generations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/listen-carefully-to-what-country-people-call-mother-wit-in-those/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [“As I ate she began the first of what we later called “my lessons in living.” She said that I must always be intolerant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/as-i-ate-she-began-the-first-of-what-we-later-called-my-lessons-in/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [“My dear child, you can give it a long name if you like, but I'm an old-fashioned woman and I call it mother-wit, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-l-sayers/my-dear-child-you-can-give-it-a-long-name-if-you-like-but-i-m-an-old/) [Dorothy L. Sayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-l-sayers/) > [“When misfortune comes, The wisest even lose their mother wit”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophocles/when-misfortune-comes-the-wisest-even-lose-their-mother-wit/) [Sophocles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophocles/) > [No delusion is greater than the notion that method and industry can make up for lack of mother-wit, either in science or in practical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/no-delusion-is-greater-than-the-notion-that-method-and-industry-can/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [What do you do with mother love and mother wit when the babies are grown and gone away?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanne-greenberg/what-do-you-do-with-mother-love-and-mother-wit-when-the-babies-are/) [Joanne Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanne-greenberg/) > [In crowds it is stupidity and not mother wit that is accumulated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-le-bon/in-crowds-it-is-stupidity-and-not-mother-wit-that-is-accumulated/) [Gustave Le Bon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-le-bon/) > [“This faculty is mother wit, the creative power through which man is capable of recognising likenesses and making them himself. We see it in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-eliot-gardiner/this-faculty-is-mother-wit-the-creative-power-through-which-man-is/) [John Eliot Gardiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-eliot-gardiner/) > [I'm grateful to intelligent people. That doesn't mean educated. That doesn't mean intellectual. I mean really intelligent. What black old people used to call…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/i-m-grateful-to-intelligent-people-that-doesn-t-mean-educated-that/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [ Freedom, where are you? Who holds you back? \[...\] The mother of wit and pleasure, Oh freedom! ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-maria-barbosa-du-bocage/freedom-where-are-you-who-holds-you-back-the-mother-of-wit-and/) Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage > [There are other letters for the child to learn than those which Cadmus invented. The Spaniards have a good term to express this wild…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/there-are-other-letters-for-the-child-to-learn-than-those-which/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [you can give it a long name if you like, but I'm an old-fashioned woman and I call it mother-wit, and it's so rare…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-l-sayers/you-can-give-it-a-long-name-if-you-like-but-i-m-an-old-fashioned/) [Dorothy L. Sayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-l-sayers/) > [“Still - so many of the important times in life begin by seeming incidental.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/still-so-many-of-the-important-times-in-life-begin-by-seeming/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [“Nothing is incidental.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pocan-ioan-valentin/nothing-is-incidental/) Pocan Ioan Valentin > [The beauty of design ought to be totally incidental to the enterprise itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-metcalf/the-beauty-of-design-ought-to-be-totally-incidental-to-the-enterprise/) [Stephen Metcalf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-metcalf/) ## More by Laura Riding > [I believe that misconceptions about oneself that one does not correct where possible act as a bad magic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/i-believe-that-misconceptions-about-oneself-that-one-does-not-correct/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [To a poet the mere making of a poem can seem to solve the problem of truth…but only a problem of art is solved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/to-a-poet-the-mere-making-of-a-poem-can-seem-to-solve-the-problem-of/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Evil I had never found satisfactorily placeable as an integral element of the universal, or total, content of existence. Indeed, evil is evil just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/evil-i-had-never-found-satisfactorily-placeable-as-an-integral/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [“Forgive me, giver, if I destroy the gift: it is so nearly what would please me I cannot but perfect it”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/forgive-me-giver-if-i-destroy-the-gift-it-is-so-nearly-what-would/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [The new "ambiguity" means, in a way adjudged favorable to literary, poetic, intellectually and psychologically well-devised and praiseworthily executed linguistic performance, uncertainty of meaning,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/the-new-ambiguity-means-in-a-way-adjudged-favorable-to-literary/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Conversation succeeds conversation, Until there's nothing left to talk about Except truth, the perennial monologue, And no talker to dispute it but itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/conversation-succeeds-conversation-until-there-s-nothing-left-to-talk/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Women, ever since there have been women, have had a way of being people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/women-ever-since-there-have-been-women-have-had-a-way-of-being-people/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [ She \[Venison\] had never travelled and so could invent all kinds of strange places without being limited, as travelled people are, by knowledge of… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/she-venison-had-never-travelled-and-so-could-invent-all-kinds-of/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [rummaging in the storehouses of religious or literary history for myth-matter for ideational uses is of the nature of spiritual vulgarity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/rummaging-in-the-storehouses-of-religious-or-literary-history-for/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [The terms 'male' and 'female' must be understood as representing no mere primitive opposition of sex to sex; but as defining two worlds of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/the-terms-male-and-female-must-be-understood-as-representing-no-mere/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [The object of all religious activity is to mingle the human and the non-human, and the lower gods represent that which is cast back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/the-object-of-all-religious-activity-is-to-mingle-the-human-and-the/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Women are strangers in the country of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/women-are-strangers-in-the-country-of-man/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Every thought sounds like a footfall, Till a thought like a boot kicks down the wall.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/every-thought-sounds-like-a-footfall-till-a-thought-like-a-boot-kicks/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Politics have always covered two distinct kinds of problems: problems of administrative routine, and those that may be called 'questions of the moment.' A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/politics-have-always-covered-two-distinct-kinds-of-problems-problems/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [To tell one comprehensive story of how it has happened that what is is, one which shall hold true, come what may, now-after -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/to-tell-one-comprehensive-story-of-how-it-has-happened-that-what-is/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) [Explore all 68 Laura Riding quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) ## More Aids quotes > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. 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If you take the direct aid, we're very generous.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/if-you-take-all-the-food-aid-america-is-by-far-the-most-generous/) [George W. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-w-bush/) > [My God, whose son, as on this night, took on Him the form of man, and for man vouchsafed to suffer and bleed, controls…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/my-god-whose-son-as-on-this-night-took-on-him-the-form-of-man-and-for/) [Charlotte Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [I donated blood today. That's what I call getting an AIDS test.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-schumer/i-donated-blood-today-that-s-what-i-call-getting-an-aids-test/) [Amy Schumer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-schumer/) > [Slavery, if it can be legalized at all, can be legalized only by positive legislation. Natural law gives it no aid. Custom imparts to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lysander-spooner/slavery-if-it-can-be-legalized-at-all-can-be-legalized-only-by/) [Lysander Spooner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lysander-spooner/) > [Since I came to the White House, I got two hearing aids, a colon operation, skin cancer, a prostate operation, and I was shot.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/since-i-came-to-the-white-house-i-got-two-hearing-aids-a-colon/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [The European talks of progress because by the aid of a few scientific discoveries he has established a society which has mistaken comfort for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/the-european-talks-of-progress-because-by-the-aid-of-a-few-scientific/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [Women's Aid is a fantastic charity which has my full support. I am proud to call myself a Real Man, a man who will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-fox/women-s-aid-is-a-fantastic-charity-which-has-my-full-support-i-am/) Neil Fox > [It has been hard to muster the resources to support fledgling democracies and to intervene on behalf of the most desperate. The AIDS orphans…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/condoleezza-rice/it-has-been-hard-to-muster-the-resources-to-support-fledgling/) [Condoleezza Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/condoleezza-rice/) > [At the time when this famous historical battle was fought in Kosovo, the people were looking at the stars, expecting aid from them. 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