POSSIBLE SIGNALS OF METAPHORICITY
not linked to any particular conceptual metaphor

Acknowledgment

The list is inspired by Andrew Goatly's book "The language of metaphors" (Routledge, 1997),
though significant additions and reorganizations have been effected.

Important Notes

The phrases/devices in this file are for detecting only *some* metaphorical utterances.
The signals may signal metaphoricity usefully often, but may often not do so: many of them have useful functions in NON-metaphorical language.
Question marks indicate the particularly dubious signals.
Obvious grammatical variants of the signals shown are implicitly included, such as putting verbs within them into past tense or passive voice. Thus, variants of "see as" include "seen as" and "saw as". Exercise: think of other grammatical variants for this example, and think about variants for other signals below.
Double parentheses are used below to indicate a device or class of phrases without actually exhibiting it/them. E.g. ((adjective)) means any adjective.
A slash is used to indicate alternatives, as you might have guessed!
Square brackets are used to indicate optional bits.
NB: "[some/a] sort of" covers the following:
- sort of
- some sort of
- a sort of

THE SIGNALS

(largely from Goatly Chapter 6, but not including all of his, and mostly not following his categorization)

Explicit signals of metaphoricity, similarity, etc.
(where the signals themselves are not (very) metaphorical )

NB: The ones that allude to language could also be regarded as being in the "Metalinguistic" category below.

metaphor[ical[ly]] [speaking]
figurative[ly] [speaking]
analogous[ly], analogy, analog[ue]
similarly, similar [to], simulacrum
compared to
symbol[ic[ally]],
proverbial[ly]
allegory/ical[ly]
version

? fake, bogus, artificial, imitation, mock, pretend{ADJ}

in [much/somewhat/...] the same way
in a similar way
? in this/that way, in these/those ways, ?? thus
? to put it another way

equivalent [of], equivalently
correspond[ing[ly]]

liken ... to
symbolize

alike
[quite/bit/somewhat/much/little/almost/very/...] like
{where "like" is an adjective, adverb or preposition, and excluding cases where it is followed by certain things, e.g. pronouns.
NB: in a sample BNC file I looked at, all occurrences of "like" were marked as prepositions, although I would have classed them as adverbs.}

not unlike
not dissimilar

look like, look as if/though
look ((adjective)) {e.g., "looks tired" said of a piece of clothing}

{when these phrases are actually to do with visual appearance}
? {so-and-so is a } ((noun)) face
{insult about appearance being like that of ((noun)); e.g. frog face, poo face; but instead of "face" being considered a signal we could claim that we just have an implicit copula metaphor/simile about the face} (added 29jan07)

{suffix:} [-]like
{suffixes:} [-]ish[ly], [-]y
       {e.g.: a curry-ish meal; a glassy stare}
{the hyphen may be important for "ish" and "y" because otherwise we may pick up far too many non-metaphorical words}

{suffix:} [-]ly
{when it makes an ADJECTIVE, not an adverb; e.g. "matronly"; but we'll need to avoid ordinary adjectives ending in "ly", such as: likely, holy, wily.}

?? {suffix:} [-]ily {when forming an adverb}

-style, -fashion
       {e.g.: a big-city-style traffic-jam}

? as
as ... as
much/somewhat as
just/exactly as
[not] as ... as
not so ... as
as ..., so does ...
      {e.g. as a man ages, so does a tree}

as if/though
as it were

... thing, ... thingy, ... thingamajig {etc.} {e.g., "this handle thing" referring to something is only like a handle or metaphorically a handle}

seem/appear to
seem like
(these moved 29jan07 from non-metaphorical thinking-of-as category below)

Explicit signals of metaphoricity, similarity, etc.
(where the signals themselves are quite metaphorical )

NB: The ones that allude to language could also be regarded as being in the "Metalinguistic" category below.

likeness, lookalike, copy, parallel, mirror, echo, ??totem,
model, image, picturea, painting, pattern, parody, caricature, effigy, fashion, map, chart {some are both nouns and verbs}
epitomize
act as
{NB:} pattern after, model on, fashion after, picture/caricature/paint/draw/cast as

look/sound/feel/smell ((adjective))

{when these phrases are not literally to do with visual-etc. appearance}
(non-look cases added here 29jan07) look/sound/feel/taste/smell/ [[very] much / somewhat ] like
look/sound/feel/taste/smell/ [[very] much /somewhat ] as if/though
(these two lines moved 29jan07 from quite-metaphorical thinking-of-as below)

Explicit signals of thinking-of-as
(where the signals themselves are not (very) metaphorical )

think of ... as
consider ... as
consider ... to be
imagine ... as
imagine ... to be
? suppose ... to be

suggest, suggestive of
bring to mind, remind ... of, make ... think of

Explicit signals of thinking-of-as, etc.
(where the signals themselves are quite metaphorical )

view / look at / look upon / see / regard ... as

Explicit signals of alternative or special sense being used

in a/another sense
in some/every sense
in both/all senses, in more than one sense
? in this/that sense

in a/one way
in some way[s]

if you know what I mean

Metalinguistic signals
(incl. some that are themselves metaphorical)

NB: Some items in both "Explicit signals of metaphoricity" categories above could also be classed as metalinguistic.

so to speak/say
in a manner of speaking
[as/so] you might/could [almost/even/equally/ just as well] say
[what/as] you/one/we might/could [almost/even/equally/ just as well] call
as the saying goes
could swear that, almost swear that. could almost swear that
? in other words
? so-called
? {to be} called, {so-an-so} call {someone something} (this line added 29jan07)

refer to ... as
describe ... as
? treat / handle / deal with ... as

((quotation marks))

in a nutshell
[quite] simply, to put it simply, simply put {moved here out of Bogus category, 6mar07}
{e.g.: simply put, he's a bulldozer}

Bogus Signals of Reality

[quite] literally, real[ly], actual[ly], indeed, veritable, regular, right
just, true, truly
{e.g.: he's just a bulldozer}

{items involving putting something "simply" moved into Metalinguistic category, 6mar07}

Signals of (Near-)Equivalence

same [thing] as
? no different to/from/than
amount to
to all intents and purposes

absolutely, thoroughly, utterly, totally, full on
almost, practically, virtual[ly], pretty nearly
as near ... as makes no difference
no less than, no more than, little more than

Approximative Categorizers

(moved some items into Warping Categorizers, 6mar07) [a/some] kind/sort/type/form/class/case of
more or less
a bit of a
half-
half a
somewhat of a
something of a
something ((adjective)) about ...
such a
? very {as adverb}

or something
or whatever
? a touch, a little, a tad

hint/trace/signs of
       {e.g.: there was hint of the jungle about him}

((some cases of apposition, incl.

       ((noun phrase)), that/the ((noun phrase))

       something ((adjective))
))

      {e.g.: housework, that treadmill;
       Birmingham University, the goldmine of the Midlands;
       there was something poisonous about him }

Warping Categorizers

(category created 6mar07, moving some items out of Approximative Categorizers)

("weird", "new" and "different" added 29jan07)

[a/some] peculiar/bizarre/weird/curious/odd/strange/unusual/special/new/different
kind/sort/type/form/class/case of

a kind/sort/type of peculiar/bizarre/weird/curious/odd/strange ...

peculiar/bizarre/weird/curious/odd/strange {i.e., these adjectives by themselves}

Intensifiers, Diminutives and Comparatives

super-((noun)), mini-((noun)), micro-((noun))
      {e.g.: the car is a super-horse}
{NB: the hyphen is probably important: we want to avoid things like supermarket}

?? gigantic / tiny ((physical term))
      {e.g. an atom is a tiny solar system}
{similarly with other extreme words in place of gigantic/tiny}

?? than ((generic term))
      {e.g.: he's taller than a Redwood tree}

? big/little/.... {when used to modify something metaphorical, as in "big baby", "little dictator", rather than when used independently in metaphorical way}

Contrasters

if not ...
not so much ... as ...

{see use of "different" in Warping Categorizers - 29jan07}

Commonization of Proper Names

the/a/an/another [((adjectives))] ((proper name))
      {e.g.: he's a modern Disraeli; the Beethoven of the twentieth century}

a kind/type/sort of ((proper name))

((genitive phrase)) ((proper name))
      {e.g.: she is this country's Picasso}

((proper name or variant of one))ian
      {e.g.: a Lakovian theory}

Miscellaneous or As Yet Unclassified (Possible) Signals

old {as in: she's an old cow, my dog's an old softy, this silly old pencil, silly old thing}
big old {similarly, and probably more securely a signal} (added 29jan07)

fat {fat cow, fat load of rubbish, fat idiot, ...}
big fat (added 29jan07)
(NB: "[big] fat" may directly signal insults rather than metaphor, but many insults are metaphorical; also "big" may signal the metaphoricity of "fat" - 29jan07)

((someone) is an ((X)) for ((doing Y)) {e.g.: you're an angel for doing that}

you are ((NP)) {because the NP is often an insult}, you ((NP)) {similarly and probably more so} (these added 29jan07)

The ((NP)) ./! {i.e. complete sentence. Often expresses an insult.} (Added 29jan07.)

Maintained by jabarnden@btinternet.com
Last signifciant update: 6 March 2007 [apart from typo corrections 28 April 2014]
Same as verion with Last update: 1 December 2006, except for changes marked with 29jan07 or 6mar07 dates.

POSSIBLE SIGNALS OF METAPHORICITY not linked to any particular conceptual metaphor