Biden’s twin-barreled economic offensive faces numerous hurdles but has sparked billions of dollars of private-sector investment and changed entrenched corporate practices.
The sentence appears in "Biden scraps reliance on market for faith in broader government role/The administration is pushing businesses to change with a carrot — and a stick."
Had you even realized that Biden had been relying "on market" and avoiding "broader government role"? That's just silly, and it's why I wrote "Fawning over Biden," but I'm interested in counting the metaphors in that one sentence.
Do you see the 6 that I see? Any others?
By the way "a carrot — and a stick" is also a metaphor, but I think the headline writer intended to refer to "carrot or stick," because "carrot and stick" is this:
ADDED: This is the first time I've felt moved to examine whether the verb "to fawn" has something to do with the animal, the fawn. It does not! The OED says the word "fawn," meaning a baby deer comes from the Old French faon, which goes back to medieval Latin foetus.
The verb "fawn," meaning "to show delight or fondness... as a dog does," "to lavish caresses," or "to affect a servile fondness; to court favour or notice by an abject demeanour," comes from "fain," which means to rejoince. It's interesting that when we picture the baby deer, we're picturing in the wrong animal. According to the OED, "fawn" was understood in terms of the behavior of a dog.
Here's Adam Smith in "A Wealth of Nations":
When an animal wants to obtain something either of a man or of another animal, it has no other means of persuasion but to gain the favour of those whose service it requires. A puppy fawns upon its dam, and a spaniel endeavours by a thousand attractions to engage the attention of its master who is at dinner, when it wants to be fed by him. Man sometimes uses the same arts with his brethren, and when he has no other means of engaging them to act according to his inclinations, endeavours by every servile and fawning attention to obtain their good will. He has not time, however, to do this upon every occasion. In civilized society he stands at all times in need of the cooperation and assistance of great multitudes, while his whole life is scarce sufficient to gain the friendship of a few persons. In almost every other race of animals each individual, when it is grown up to maturity, is entirely independent, and in its natural state has occasion for the assistance of no other living creature....
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59 comments:
Re: Biden
We are going to find out fairly quickly where all this unproductive spending leads...plus the whammy of higher interest rates on federal debt.
This is called misallocation of capital.
"Biden’s twin-barreled economic offensive faces numerous hurdles but has sparked billions of dollars of private-sector investment and changed entrenched corporate practices."
His economic offensive has pretty much wrecked the economy. Unless you're a public sector employee. In which case I need to remind you; Everything is markets.
Aren't these the precise actions of a fascist?
The donkey in that picture is a metaphor.
WaPo is fawning over Biden?
NO WAY!
The house organ and propaganda arm for the Democrat party is ... laying down the BS for their precious D puppet?
again - shocked!
Biden’s twin-barreled economic offensive
Isn't this "triggering" to the anti-gun crowd?
How long until the WAPO bans any use of firearm-related metaphors?
"Had you even realized that Biden had been relying "on market" and avoiding "broader government role"? That's just silly"
It is. Considering that it has been prog MO for more than a century. But Americans don't care anymore, certainly not the voters who disliked Trump more than ruinous policies.
If he's using the free market to tinker - isn't that illegal?
Much like his illegal student dept cancellation.
Policito hacks do not understand the law or basic economics. Hacks, all.
I'm only counting five: "twin-barreled" => gun, "offensive" => war, "hurdles" => sport, "sparked" => engine, "entrenched" => war. What an I missing?
Those are all dead metaphors, and fall under Fowler's exception
In all discussion of m. it must be borne in mind that some metaphors are living, i.e. are offered and accepted with a consciousness of their nature as substitutes for their literal equivalents, while others are dead, i.e. have been so often used that speaker and hearer have ceased to be aware that the words used are not literal. But the line of distinction between the live and the dead is a shifting one, the dead being sometimes liable, under the stimulus of an affinity or a repulsion, to galvanic stirrings indistinguishable from life. Thus, in The men were sifting meal we have a literal use of sift; in Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, sift is a live m.; in the sifting of evidence, the m. is so familiar that it is about equal chances whether sifting or examination will be used, and that a sieve is not present to the thought--unless indeed someone conjures it up by saying All the evidence must first be sifted with acid tests, or with the microscope. Under such a stimulus our m. turns out to have been not dead but dormant. The other word, examine, will do well enough as an example of the real stone-dead m.; the Latin examino, being from examen the tongue of a balance, meant originally to weigh; but, through weighing is not done with acid tests or microscopes any more than sifting, examine gives no convulsive twitches, like sift, at finding itself in their company. Examine, then, is dead m., and sift only half dead, or three-quarters.
"I congratulate you for having the courage of a lion to set foot in these shark-infested waters."
from a letter from Gordon Baxter to his editor, who had just issued a ukase banning cliches in submitted articles.
Why is WaPo promoting gun violence in support of Brandon?
As far as I know, the only context for double-barreled is shotguns.
And going on an "offensive" seems pretty warlike.
I know he is trying to drag us, kicking and screaming, into ww3. (in the mold of Wilson, fdr, truman and lbj. Good demmies all, elected on promises not to.)
Does WaPo support war now?
John Henry
An important aspect of fascist economies was economic dirigism,[34] meaning an economy where the government often subsidizes favorable companies and exerts strong directive influence over investment, as opposed to having a merely regulatory role. In general, fascist economies were based on private property and private initiative, but these were contingent upon service to the state.[35] - Wikipedia
But remember, it's the people who want to maximize the freedom of the individual who are the "fascists" not Biden.
The photo that should go with that story should be the "Dark Brandon" one, where has his fists balled up to the sides, mimicking, possibly unconsciously, possibly not, Hitler, what the black background, the red vaguely fascistic symbol, the Marines at his side to symbolize that those who disagree will face the full force of government.
It's all of a piece, and now we know what he was up to. It's giving LLRs a little boner.
Let's try to fix the sentence and go with its martial motifs.
Biden’s twin-barreled economic offensive faces a gauntlet of resistance, but has enlisted billions of dollars in private-sector investment and has already overcome many entrenched corporate practices.
"Springtime for Biden."
Just remember that before Hitler, Germany was a liberal democracy.
"Those are all dead metaphors, and fall under Fowler's exception"
If a writer is stringing together dead metaphors, maybe he should ask himself if he could do better.
I nearly missed the “sparked” metaphor, but primarily because it is bullshit. The only spark of billions of dollars Biden has done is to waste it losing wars either in Afghanistan or Ukraine. In those cases, a real spark occurred and billions of US taxpayer dollars were lost with zero benefit to Americans outside the defense industrial complex that got orders to replace what was lost.
Reading this fawning, I’m struck at how unmotivational Biden is. Like them or not, Barack Obama and both Clintons could motivate a crowd. Bill does it better than Hillary, and I’ve heard that people not particularly interested in Bill Clinton are impressed by his charisma when meeting him in person. Biden has none of this. So much so, that a puff piece like this from WaPo seems so laughable in its attempt to make Biden seem energetic.
Finally to correct Jamie slightly, Spark => explosive, still warlike.
I also only counted 5.
Dammit! Try again:
Biden’s twin-pronged economic offensive faces a gauntlet of resistance, but has enlisted billions of dollars in private-sector investment and has already overcome many entrenched corporate positions.
government control (In our case: The mob) over the free market and private industry IS the real definition of Fascism.
Thank you for the reminder - Tim.
I've always liked the shoe is in the other court.
Amadeus 48: "Re: Biden
We are going to find out fairly quickly where all this unproductive spending leads...plus the whammy of higher interest rates on federal debt.
This is called misallocation of capital."
You are assuming their view of "misallocation" of capital is the same as your view on misallocation of capital.
I would suggest it is not and they are purposefully, knowingly, Cloward-Piven-ing us to the end state upon which they believe they can rebuild on top of the rubble.
I always saw "and" and "or" as interchangeable in that metaphor. Either way, the donkey is motivated by some combination of the carrot dangled as a reward and being hit by the stick as punishment.
debt*
Finally to correct Jamie slightly, Spark => explosive, still warlike.
That's what I put down at first, but on rereading, it seemed to me that the writer was thinking of "engine," as in something that makes something happen. To the extent that the writer was thinking, that is.
John henry said...
"Why is WaPo promoting gun violence in support of Brandon?
As far as I know, the only context for double-barreled is shotguns."
Which is a big problem when switching between a single trigger over/under to a Spanish double. The Spanish double has an extra trigger.
(shit only I care about. Except Democrat economic stupidity which everyone should care about.)
I rather prefer a sparkly shotgun to the kind that shoots buckshot. I've got problems with entrenched hurdles though. It's one thing to surmount a hurdle, but surmounting a hurdle doesn't prepare you for the steep fall into the trench on the other side of that hurdle. But isn't that the way it works. When you surmount a hurdle, you fall not just from the height of that hurdle but also into the deep hole you dug on the other side of that hurdle. Something to do with entropy or maybe over-analyzing a mixed metaphor which is itself a kind mixed metaphor for entropy.
Looks like your basic MSNBC circle jerk to me. Basically all they do is shitty sports metaphors that they don’t even understand.
"I congratulate you for having the courage of a lion to set foot (where the hand of man has never trod before) in these shark-infested waters."
Sorry. I misremembered Baxters line previously
Tim in Vt @ 9:25am,
Good effort, but you really need to work 'garner' in there somehow.
“Count the mixed metaphors in this one sentence...I'm interested in counting the metaphors in that one sentence.Do you see the 6 that I see?”
The number of mixed metaphors is not the same as the number of metaphors, since one mixed metaphor comprises two ordinary metaphors. If you see six metaphors, the number of mixed metaphors would be the number of ways of combining them in pairs, or 6x5/2 = 15.
The Biden stimulus means Porsche dealers will be a little busier taking orders from Teamsters and professors from middling liberal arts schools. Some more foot traffic in Malibu real estate. Better bottles of wine at DC/VA haunts. That’s about it domestically…
The markers for all those foreign dignitaries means more business for the Swiss and in the Caymans….
North korea says this is too much
One time in a meeting with about fifty investment people an analyst meant to use ‘dog and pony show’ but instead said ‘donkey show’ which is something else entirely.
@Althouse, on the upper right corner of that cartoon, erase “Europe 1916” and write in “USA 2023.”
Back in the summer of 1914 people were assuring themselves that “the war will be over by Christmas.” Glenn Reynolds is found of paraphrasing economist Herb Stein: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” But wars have a way of going on long past the point when rational people would call a halt.
How many points are you giving for "twin-barreled"? I'm not sure that's even a metaphor. When you're talking shotguns, it's "double-barreled". I have some vague notion that the cylinders in car engines are sometimes referred to as barrels, like "eight barrels under the hood" or something. But I am not aware of any two-cylinder car engines.
The chief problem with massive government spending, in addition to its inflationary effect, is that it distorts the economy, causing people to invest in things that no one wants at their real price. I suppose that's what the idiots at the soon-to-be-sold WaPo mean by "sparked billions of dollars of private-sector investment and changed entrenched corporate practices."
"... , and that a sieve is not present to the thought- ..."
Oh wow. It had never occurred to me that "sift" was related to "sieve". Maybe it's a good thing I didn't die ten years ago after all.
But that looks as if "sieve" is the verb and "sift" its past participle -- "We have been sift with our own sieve". That can't be right. Although I do like the sound of it.
"But wars have a way of going on long past the point when rational people would call a halt."
The Germans were trying to call a halt in 1917. But Woodrow Wilson had a better idea.
1. twin-barreled
2. offensive
3. faces
4. hurdles
5. sparked
6. entrenched
That’s how I counted. It’s a muddle of action… standing, advancing, jumping, shooting, lighting fires, digging in. You can’t picture it whether you see the concrete thing or go right to the figurative meaning. They just piled up what they thought were exciting words.
Blogger Jupiter said...
...But I am not aware of any two-cylinder car engines.
Renault 2CV
Funny Jamie. I agree that was likely what the author was thinking with the use of that metaphor. However, all the other ones made me think of the billions lost by Biden. Gone as if just destroyed in an explosion. But the author and Biden want it to be an engine.
“Faces” is a metaphor so dead that its metaphoriness is all but imperceptible. If the etymology of a sense of a word is still discernible, is it automatically a metaphor?
"...and changed entrenched corporate practices."
Biden changed the entrenched corporate practices? Please. Elon Musk did more in his first two months owning Twitter than Biden could in a lifetime of corporate influence. Musk already changed the tack of the entirety of the tech industry by his cutting employees and demanding productivity. Lookie here...just a couple of months later, much of Silicon Valley has found their business sense once again and has started cutting and looking at productivity instead of how many chefs are needed at lunch.
The only thing Biden has done to corporate practices is to expand the role of DEI Directors and made the value of the dollar worth less. One can look at that either as progress, or as one would being told by the doctor that you have a major cancer and your only chance is to cut it out immediately. We have not yet seen the impact of all of this.
The only stick employed is the broomstick up Biden’s ass that reinforces his spine and has a side-effect of making him walk like a demented robot.
"As far as I know, the only context for double-barreled is shotguns."
Au contraire, there are plenty of double-barreled rifles, much more common in the era before magazine-fed breech-loading rifles became standard, though still preferred by some when hunting dangerous game close up. (The last thing you want, when the lion is charging you and your first shot didn't stop him, is a failure-to-feed.)
Jupiter,
As far as I know, 'barrel' in this context refers to the carburetor(s), not the cylinders.
Well I learned a few things from the Wapo piece. AA and I read news articles differently. I skim for info. She's more into literary criticism.
Are you saying that the "stick" in "carrot and stick" refers to the stick on which the carrot is dangling?
I strenuously disagree.
Also, Trump 2024.
A double-barreled carb is called a "double-barreled carb". I don't think I've ever heard "twin barrel" in any context before. Maybe twin barrel machine gun?
Readering: one of the two of you is wasting their time.
"I don't think I've ever heard "twin barrel" in any context before."
Googling it, I'm seeing "twin-barreled tank."
@Althouse, on the upper right corner of that cartoon, erase “Europe 1916” and write in “USA 2023.”
Back in the summer of 1914 people were assuring themselves that “the war will be over by Christmas.” Glenn Reynolds is found of paraphrasing economist Herb Stein: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”
Sort of a tangent, but aside from the usual jingoistic optimists that attend all conflicts, there was also wide assumption based on the short duration and high cost of a number of wars in the early years of the 20th Century that the one begun in August 1914 would cause such a disruption in national and international affairs that continuing it would rapidly become untenable. Of course it didn't work out that way. People can remain irrational for a long time, and there can be quite a span between forever and when consequences finally force a reckoning with that irrationality.
Au contraire, there are plenty of double-barreled rifles, much more common in the era before magazine-fed breech-loading rifles became standard, though still preferred by some when hunting dangerous game close up. (The last thing you want, when the lion is charging you and your first shot didn't stop him, is a failure-to-feed.)
@Kirk Parker, I was looking over an antique double-barreled African hunting rifle at a gun show a few years back. In pretty rough condition for only a century old. The seller remarked that the cartridge it was chambered in (something Nitro Express?) was too much for the lever and bolt actions of the day, and that you only had time for two shots if charged by a rhino or elephant or lion because that’s all you’ll get off before the beast is upon you and you’re dead.
Old and slow said...
"Blogger Jupiter said...
...But I am not aware of any two-cylinder car engines.
Renault 2CV"
The Trabant had a two cylinder two cycle engine.
I think early Morgans used a V twin AJS engine.
Big Mike said...
"Au contraire, there are plenty of double-barreled rifles, much more common in the era before magazine-fed breech-loading rifles became standard, though still preferred by some when hunting dangerous game close up."
Also called "stopping rifles". African big game guides used them when the sports missed with their 300 H&H. I'm typing this looking at an empty 600 Nitro Express case. They are very expensive guns.
Old and slow said...
"Blogger Jupiter said...
...But I am not aware of any two-cylinder car engines.
Renault 2CV"
The Trabant had a two cylinder two cycle engine.
I think early Morgans used a V twin AJS engine.
Big Mike said...
"Au contraire, there are plenty of double-barreled rifles, much more common in the era before magazine-fed breech-loading rifles became standard, though still preferred by some when hunting dangerous game close up."
Also called "stopping rifles". African big game guides used them when the sports missed with their 300 H&H. I'm typing this looking at an empty 600 Nitro Express case. They are very expensive guns.
I think the headline writer intended to refer to "carrot or stick," because "carrot and stick" is this:
Do'h!
Biden is so old they need dead metaphors to help him look... slightly alive.
I *could* make the case — at a stretch, I grant you — that this mishmash is actually an extended WW1 metaphor. The “double barrels” referring to tanks, which did have two barrels, “offensive” over the top of the trenches, “hurdles” on the way across no-man’s-land, “sparked”, lit the fuses for the bombs under enemy trenches, and “entrenched”, well the obvious….
My dear departed friend had his favourite MM: “there are thorny shoals ahead”…
WaPoo committing an act of necrophilia.
I wouldn't necessarily call "faces" and "offensive" metaphors, or if they are metaphors they are deeply engrained (another metaphor?) in the language itself. What could you replace "faces" with that wouldn't be metaphorical?
"Carrot _or_ stick" does not exist. It is merely constructed out of nothing to shore up the misunderstood "carrot _on a_ stick" metaphor. Embarrassing to say the least. There are some who will ignore the evidence (like the image above) and insist that this ludicrous (and illegal and implausible pairing of two inanimate objects exists solely outside the botched metaphor. They're wrong on more than one level.
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