[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.68,0:00:17.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When we talk, sometimes\Nwe say things directly.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:17.92,0:00:20.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"I'm going to the store,\NI'll be back in five minutes."
Dialogue: 0,0:00:20.76,0:00:24.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Other times though, we talk in a way\Nthat conjures up a small scene.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.40,0:00:26.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"It's raining cats and dogs out," we say,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:27.00,0:00:29.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or "I was waiting\Nfor the other shoe to drop."
Dialogue: 0,0:00:30.00,0:00:32.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Metaphors are a way\Nto talk about one thing
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.56,0:00:34.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by describing something else.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.52,0:00:37.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That may seem roundabout, but it's not.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.48,0:00:41.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Seeing and hearing and tasting\Nare how we know anything first.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:41.12,0:00:45.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The philosopher William James\Ndescribed the world of newborn infants
Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.16,0:00:48.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as a "buzzing and blooming confusion."
Dialogue: 0,0:00:48.20,0:00:50.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Abstract ideas are pale things
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.52,0:00:53.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,compared to those first bees and blossoms.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.64,0:00:56.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Metaphors think\Nwith the imagination and the senses.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:56.88,0:01:01.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The hot chili peppers in them\Nexplode in the mouth and the mind.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.04,0:01:02.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They're also precise.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.52,0:01:04.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We don't really stop\Nto think about a raindrop
Dialogue: 0,0:01:04.72,0:01:06.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the size of an actual cat or dog,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.88,0:01:08.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but as soon as I do,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.36,0:01:11.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I realize that I'm quite certain\Nthe dog has to be a small one --
Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.84,0:01:14.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a cocker spaniel, or a dachshund --
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.24,0:01:17.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and not a golden Lab or Newfoundland.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.16,0:01:19.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think a beagle might be about right.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.40,0:01:24.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A metaphor isn't true or untrue\Nin any ordinary sense.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:24.48,0:01:26.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Metaphors are art, not science,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.96,0:01:29.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but they can still feel right or wrong.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.56,0:01:32.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A metaphor that isn't good\Nleaves you confused.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.60,0:01:35.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know what it means\Nto feel like a square wheel,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.64,0:01:38.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but not what it's like\Nto be tired as a whale.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:38.84,0:01:40.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's a paradox to metaphors.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.80,0:01:43.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They almost always\Nsay things that aren't true.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.84,0:01:46.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you say, "there's\Nan elephant in the room,"
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.32,0:01:48.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there isn't an actual one,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.16,0:01:50.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,looking for the peanut dish on the table.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:50.60,0:01:55.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Metaphors get under your skin\Nby ghosting right past the logical mind.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.56,0:01:57.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Plus, we're used to thinking in images.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.88,0:02:00.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Every night we dream impossible things.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.64,0:02:03.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And when we wake up,\Nthat way of thinking's still in us.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:03.96,0:02:05.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We take off our dream shoes,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.72,0:02:08.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and button ourselves into our lives.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:08.84,0:02:12.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some metaphors\Ninclude the words "like" or "as."
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.60,0:02:15.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Sweet as honey," "strong as a tree."
Dialogue: 0,0:02:15.20,0:02:16.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Those are called similes.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:16.96,0:02:20.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A simile is a metaphor\Nthat admits it's making a comparison.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:20.92,0:02:22.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Similes tend to make you think.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:22.99,0:02:26.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Metaphors let you feel things directly.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.32,0:02:28.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Take Shakespeare's famous metaphor,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.72,0:02:30.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"All the world's a stage."
Dialogue: 0,0:02:30.84,0:02:35.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"The world is like a stage"\Njust seems thinner, and more boring.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:35.52,0:02:37.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Metaphors can also live in verbs.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.00,0:02:40.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Emily Dickinson begins a poem,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:40.20,0:02:43.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"I saw no way --\Nthe heavens were stitched --"
Dialogue: 0,0:02:43.52,0:02:44.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we know instantly
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.76,0:02:48.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what it would feel like\Nif the sky were a fabric sewn shut.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.44,0:02:51.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They can live in adjectives, too.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.44,0:02:55.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Still waters run deep,"\Nwe say of someone quiet and thoughtful.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:55.96,0:02:59.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the deep matters\Nas much as the stillness and the water do.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.00,0:03:04.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of the clearest places\Nto find good metaphors is in poems.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.64,0:03:09.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Take this haiku by the 18th-century\NJapanese poet Issa.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.60,0:03:13.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"On a branch floating downriver,\Na cricket singing."
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.28,0:03:19.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The first way to meet a metaphor\Nis just to see the world through its eyes:
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.04,0:03:22.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an insect sings from a branch\Npassing by in the middle of the river.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.32,0:03:24.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even as you see that though,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:24.72,0:03:26.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some part of you recognizes in the image
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.00,0:03:32.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a small portrait of what it's like\Nto live in this world of change and time,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:32.08,0:03:36.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our human fate is to vanish,\Nas surely as that small cricket will,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:36.48,0:03:38.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and still, we do what it does.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:38.96,0:03:40.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We live, we sing.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:41.52,0:03:45.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sometimes a poem\Ntakes a metaphor and extends it,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.88,0:03:48.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,building on one idea in many ways.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:49.12,0:03:52.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here's the beginning\Nof Langston Hughes' famous poem
Dialogue: 0,0:03:52.48,0:03:53.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Mother to Son."
Dialogue: 0,0:03:54.44,0:03:56.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Well, son, I'll tell you.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:56.84,0:03:59.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:59.88,0:04:02.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's had tacks in it, and splinters,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:02.20,0:04:03.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and boards torn up,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:03.52,0:04:06.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and places with no carpet on the floor."
Dialogue: 0,0:04:06.64,0:04:09.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Langston Hughes is making\Na metaphor that compares
Dialogue: 0,0:04:09.84,0:04:13.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a hard life to a wrecked house\Nyou still have to live in.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:13.48,0:04:16.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Those splinters and tacks feel real,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:16.20,0:04:18.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they hurt your own feet\Nand your own heart,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:19.00,0:04:21.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but the mother\Nis describing her life here,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:21.60,0:04:23.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not her actual house.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:23.32,0:04:27.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And hunger, and cold,\Nexhausting work and poverty
Dialogue: 0,0:04:27.08,0:04:29.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are what's also inside those splinters.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:30.16,0:04:33.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Metaphors aren't always\Nabout our human lives and feelings.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:33.56,0:04:36.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Chicago poet Carl Sandburg wrote,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:36.36,0:04:39.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"The fog comes on little cat feet.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:39.28,0:04:43.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It sits looking over harbor\Nand city on silent haunches,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:43.76,0:04:45.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then moves on."
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.44,0:04:47.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The comparison here is simple.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:47.76,0:04:49.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fog is being described as a cat.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:50.32,0:04:52.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But a good metaphor isn't a puzzle,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:52.52,0:04:54.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or a way to convey hidden meanings,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:54.68,0:04:58.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's a way to let you feel\Nand know something differently.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:58.92,0:05:01.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No one who's heard this poem forgets it.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:01.16,0:05:02.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You see fog,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:02.40,0:05:04.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there's a small grey cat nearby.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:05.16,0:05:09.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Metaphors give words a way\Nto go beyond their own meaning.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:09.04,0:05:11.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They're handles on the door\Nof what we can know,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:11.44,0:05:13.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and of what we can imagine.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:13.72,0:05:16.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Each door leads to some new house,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:16.04,0:05:20.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and some new world\Nthat only that one handle can open.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:20.72,0:05:22.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What's amazing is this:
Dialogue: 0,0:05:22.64,0:05:24.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by making a handle,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:24.28,0:05:25.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you can make a world.