Metaphors and Hyperbole

Her hair is a fiery blaze

Her hair is a lobster dancing with a fox on top of a firetruck.

            One of these is hyperbole and the other is a metaphor. Can you tell which one is which? Tricky I know. Clichés aside, which of these doesn't make you want to punch the writer in the face? Which one makes you think of what kind of drugs this author was on and where you can get some rather than a faceful of hair? Hopefully you answered both of these with the second one.

            I have nothing against hyperbole; it has its time and place. I don’t want to lock all examples of hyperbole away in some kind of weird language prison, yeah try to imagine that for a minute. [Side note: make your own call on whether that’s a metaphor or hyperbole.] We use hyperbole all the time without even thinking about it; for example: "I’m freezing" or "I ate a ton of fries." If you aren't going for comedy then I would suggest refraining from using hyperbole because, while it's sometimes fine, the point of hyperbole is to go over the top in a ridiculous fashion.

            Metaphors are safe. (Right?) You can say whatever you want as long as you are comparing two things not using “like” or “as”. This is where many people run into THE ACCIDENTAL HYPERBOLE! THE ACCIDENTAL HYPERBOLE is a terrifying creature. It is the mutant offspring of a well-intentioned writer and a burning desire to be unique. Nobody likes clichés but when you are sick of using clichéd metaphors and you force original ones for no reason other than “Nobody likes clichés” or “I’m so original” without putting much thought into it you end up with, “His eyes were blue moldy cheese”.

                                                                     Dreamy right?

            Original metaphors that work are fantastic, but if you can’t come up with one and are trying to be serious please just go with the figure of speech that no one is going to have to read three times before finally admitting “Nope, I read that right. It is just awful”.