Dead Metaphor Definition and Examples

Dead Metaphor Definition and Examples A dead metaphor is traditionally defined as a  figure of speech that has lost its force and imaginative effectiveness through frequent use. Also known as a  frozen metaphor or a historical metaphor. Contrast with creative metaphor. Over the past several decades, cognitive linguists have criticized the dead metaphor theory- the view that a conventional metaphor is dead and no longer influences thought: The mistake derives from a basic confusion: it assumes that those things in our cognition that are most alive and most active are those that are conscious. On the contrary, those that are most alive and most deeply entrenched, efficient, and powerful are those that are so automatic as to be unconscious and effortless. (G. Lakoff and M. Turner, Philosophy in the Flesh. Basic Books, 1989) As  I.A. Richards said back in 1936: This favorite old distinction between dead and living metaphors (itself a two-fold metaphor) needs a drastic re-examination (The Philosophy of Rhetoric) Examples and Observations Kansas City is oven hot, dead metaphor or no dead metaphor. (Zadie Smith, On the Road: American Writers and Their Hair, July 2001)An example of a dead metaphor would be the body of an essay. In this example, body was initially an expression that drew on the metaphorical image of human anatomy applied to the subject matter in question. As a dead metaphor, body of an essay literally means the main part of an essay, and no longer suggests anything new that might be suggested by an anatomical referent. In that sense, body of an essay is no longer a metaphor, but merely a literal statement of fact, or a dead metaphor. (Michael P. Marks, The Prison as Metaphor. Peter Lang, 2004)Many venerable metaphors have been literalized into everyday items of language: a clock has a face (unlike human or animal face), and on that face are hands (unlike biological hands); only in terms of clocks can hands be located on a face. . . . The deadness of a metaphor and its status as a clichà © are relative m atters. Hearing for the first time that life is no bed of roses, someone might be swept away by its aptness and vigor. (Tom McArthur, Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University Press, 1992) [A] so-called dead metaphor is not a metaphor at all, but merely an expression that no longer has a pregnant metaphorical use. (Max Black, More About Metaphor. Metaphor and Thought, 2nd ed., ed. by Andrew Ortony. Cambridge University Press, 1993) It's Alive! The dead metaphor account misses an important point: namely, that what is deeply entrenched, hardly noticed, and thus effortlessly used is most active in our thought. The metaphors . . . may be highly conventional and effortlessly used, but this does not mean that they have lost their vigor in thought and that they are dead. On the contrary, they are alive in the most important sense- they govern our thought- they are metaphors we live by. (Zoltn Kà ¶vecses, Metaphor: A Practical Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2002) Two Kinds of Death The expression dead metaphor- itself metaphorical- can be understood in at least two ways. On the one hand, a dead metaphor may be like a dead issue or a dead parrot; dead issues are not issues, dead parrots, as we all know, are not parrots. On this construal, a dead metaphor is simply not a metaphor. On the other hand, a dead metaphor may be more like a dead key on a piano; dead keys are still keys, albeit weak or dull, and so perhaps a dead metaphor, even if it lacks vivacity, is metaphor nonetheless. (Samuel Guttenplan, Objects of Metaphor. Oxford University Press, 2005) The Etymological Fallacy To suggest that words always carry with them something of what may have been an original metaphoric sense is not only a form of etymological fallacy; it is a remnant of that proper meaning superstition which I.A. Richards so effectively critiques. Because a term is used which was originally metaphorical, that is, which came from one domain of experience to define another, one cannot conclude that it necessarily continues to bring with it the associations which it had in that other domain. If it is a truly dead metaphor, it will not. (Gregory W. Dawes, The Body in Question: Metaphor and Meaning in the Interpretation of Ephesians 5:21-33. Brill, 1998)

Daughter Cells and Chromosome Number in Mitosis and Meiosis

Daughter Cells and Chromosome Number in Mitosis and Meiosis Daughter cells are cells that result from the division of a single parent cell. They are produced by the division processes of mitosis and meiosis. Cell division is the reproductive mechanism whereby living organisms grow, develop, and produce offspring. At the completion of the mitotic cell cycle, a single cell divides forming two daughter cells. A parent cell undergoing meiosis produces four daughter cells. While mitosis occurs in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms, meiosis occurs in eukaryotic animal cells, plant cells, and fungi. Daughter Cells in Mitosis Mitosis is the stage of the cell cycle that involves the division of the cell nucleus and the separation of chromosomes. The division process is not complete until after cytokinesis, when the cytoplasm is divided and two distinct daughter cells are formed. Prior to mitosis, the cell prepares for division by replicating its DNA and increasing its mass and organelle numbers. Chromosome movement occurs in the different phases of mitosis: ProphaseMetaphaseAnaphaseTelophase During these phases, chromosomes are separated, moved to opposite poles of the cell, and contained within newly formed nuclei. At the end of the division process, duplicated chromosomes are divided equally between two cells. These daughter cells are genetically identical diploid cells that have the same chromosome number and chromosome type. Somatic cells are examples of cells that divide by mitosis. Somatic cells consist of all body cell types, excluding sex cells. The somatic cell chromosome number in humans is 46, while the chromosome number for sex cells is 23. Daughter Cells in Meiosis In organisms that are capable of sexual reproduction, daughter cells are produced by meiosis. Meiosis is a two part division process that produces gametes. The dividing cell goes through prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase twice. At the end of meiosis and cytokinesis, four haploid cells are produced from a single diploid cell. These haploid daughter cells have half the number of chromosomes as the parent cell and are not genetically identical to the parent cell. In sexual reproduction, haploid gametes unite in fertilization and become a diploid zygote. The zygote continues to divide by mitosis and develops into a fully functioning new individual. Daughter Cells and Chromosome Movement How do daughter cells end up with the appropriate number of chromosomes after cell division? The answer to this question involves the spindle apparatus. The spindle apparatus consists of microtubules and proteins that manipulate chromosomes during cell division. Spindle fibers attach to replicated chromosomes, moving and separating them when appropriate. The mitotic and meiotic spindles move chromosomes to opposite cell poles, ensuring that each daughter cell gets the correct number of chromosomes. The spindle also determines the location of the metaphase plate. This centrally localized site becomes the plane on which the cell eventually divides. Daughter Cells and Cytokinesis The final step in the process of cell division occurs in cytokinesis. This process begins during anaphase and ends after telophase in mitosis. In cytokinesis, the dividing cell is split into two daughter cells with the help of the spindle apparatus. Animal Cells In animal cells, the spindle apparatus determines the location of an important structure in the cell division process called the contractile ring. The contractile ring is formed from actin microtubule filaments and proteins, including the motor protein myosin. Myosin contracts the ring of actin filaments forming a deep groove called a cleavage furrow. As the contractile ring continues to contract, it divides the cytoplasm and pinches the cell in two along the cleavage furrow. Plant Cells Plant cells do not contain asters, star-shaped spindle apparatus microtubules, which help determine the site of the cleavage furrow in animal cells. In fact, no cleavage furrow is formed in plant cell cytokinesis. Instead, daughter cells are separated by a cell plate formed by vesicles that are released from Golgi apparatus organelles. The cell plate expands laterally and fuses with the plant cell wall forming a partition between the newly divided daughter cells. As the cell plate matures, it eventually develops into a cell wall. Daughter Chromosomes The chromosomes within daughter cells are termed daughter chromosomes. Daughter chromosomes result from the separation of sister chromatids occuring in anaphase of mitosis and anaphase II of meiosis. Daughter chromosomes develop from the replication of single-stranded chromosomes during the synthesis phase (S phase) of the cell cycle. Following DNA replication, the single-stranded chromosomes become double-stranded chromosomes held together at a region called the centromere. Double-stranded chromosomes are known as sister chromatids. Sister chromatids are eventually separated during the division process and equally distributed among newly formed daughter cells. Each separated chromatid is known as a daughter chromosome. Daughter Cells and Cancer Mitotic cell division is strictly regulated by cells to ensure that any errors are corrected and that cells divide properly with the correct number of chromosomes. Should mistakes occur in cell error checking systems, the resulting daughter cells may divide unevenly. While normal cells produce two daughter cells by mitotic division, cancer cells are distinguished for their ability to produce more than two daughter cells. Three or more daughter cells may develop from dividing cancer cells and these cells are produced at a faster rate than normal cells. Due to the irregular division of cancer cells, daughter cells may also end up with too many or not enough chromosomes. Cancer cells often develop as a result of mutations in genes that control normal cell growth or that function to suppress cancer cell formation. These cells grow uncontrollably, exhausting the nutrients in the surrounding area. Some cancer cells even travel to other locations in the body via the circulatory system or lymphatic system.