An Impossible Guide to Confusing Figures of Speech

In which I try not to lose my mind (that's an idiom) defining axioms and aphorisms, comparing mantras to maxims, and distinguishing analogies from metaphors and similes

While I began researching this for myself, and intended to share it here, I first published it on Medium because I figured it might have broad interest. —Rob

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When trying to make a catchy point or reduce a complex concept to something relatable, people love to pull out a metaphor, an aphorism, a simile or some other figure of speech. Honestly, I often don’t know which is which. I must’ve missed Figure of Speech day in Mrs. Gildesgaard’s 9th grade English class. Then again, if you look these terms up, you’ll find a rabbit hole of figure-of-speech synonyms and comparisons and get confused as a blind person in a fun house (Analogy? Metaphor? Simile? Stay tuned and maybe you’ll find out).

So I’ve deep-dived this stuff to create a cheat sheet, and figured I’d share it with you, because, hey, knowledge is power (That’s an adage, they say. Also a proverb. Definitely a cliché.).

And guess what I learned?

It’s not just me who’s fuzzy as an Ewok on these definitions. Various dictionaries, usage guides and other normally credible sources describe each of these terms differently. None of them are wrong, I suppose, but it took some serious cogitating and wordsmithing to arrive at definitions I feel marginally confident in. And frankly — here comes an idiom — you can expect a little garbage in, garbage out.

The terms below are most but not all considered figures of speech: clarifying or embellishing nonliteral phrases and rhetoric. Others are just called devices. Whatever. I excluded many worthy terms (including circumlocution, irony, onomatopoeias and puns) because in my unbiased opinion (oxymoron) they don’t generate the colossal confusion (alliteration and hyperbole) that characterize terms on this list.

Now, while I hope what follows is all clear as mud (which Merriam-Webster calls an idiom, while others deem it a simile), I won’t be surprised by some passionate argumentation, so grab your rhetorical devices and have at it in the comments…

This picture is worth about 1,300 words which, in case you were wondering, is a variation on what’s known as a proverb. Credit: Cast Of Thousands/Shutterstock. Used under the writer’s license.