Metaphors

Racy legal expressions: "On all fours"

Racy legal expressions: "On all fours"June 1, 2011 Legalese

I spent the day at the N.Y. Court of Appeals today, leading my NYU LLM students on a grown-up field trip. We had the pleasure of meeting with two of the justices and then listening to oral argument in four fascinating cases — one involving the Port Authority’s still unresolved liability for the 1993 WTC [...]

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Baseball season ushers in flood of work metaphors

Baseball season ushers in flood of work metaphorsApril 4, 2011 Metaphors

Now that baseball season is underway, get ready for a spike in baseball-related metaphors in the workplace and beyond. A few choice ones you may not have heard yet: 1. Can of corn Baseball: Fly ball that is easy to catch. Business: A decision or action that is a no-brainer; a product that sells itself. 2. Ducks [...]

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Beware the metaphoric use of "literally"

Beware the metaphoric use of "literally"March 28, 2011 Metaphors

Link: Beware the metaphoric use of “literally” Limit your use of literally to those relatively few situations when you literally mean literally. Or, use it figuratively at your peril. Illustrated by the inimitable The Oatmeal.

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The Good Wife: Sports metaphors steal the show.

The Good Wife: Sports metaphors steal the show.January 19, 2011 Metaphors

(this image is from an unrelated story in the sports blog The Basketball Jones) Last night’s episode of The Good Wife took it to the next level with the sports metaphors: Alicia Florrick pointedly tossed a few into her courtroom comments in a deliberate effort to provoke the judge. (Alicia and her co-counsel were convinced that [...]

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The Good Wife goes off the reservation

The Good Wife goes off the reservationJanuary 13, 2011 Metaphors

I have already come out as a fan of The Good Wife and the macho metaphors tossed around by its TV lawyers. In this week’s episode, one of lawyers talked about making sure his client “stays on the reservation” — that she doesn’t deviate from the plan and screw things up. This variation on the [...]

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The Good Wife knocks it out of the park

The Good Wife knocks it out of the parkDecember 16, 2010 Metaphors

This week’s episode of The Good Wife was extra-juicy: a scheduled execution of man on death row, Barry Scheck playing himself, and (spoiler warning) the firm’s ultimately successful last-minute appeal. Thrown into the mix were a whole lotta hardcore football metaphors flying out of the lawyers’ mouths — including the two steely women lawyers who feature prominently in the [...]

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