When Figurative Language Fails: Part 1

Lift Your Language

We love to use figurative language. It adds colour, interest and extra emphasis to points we want to make. When it’s wrongly applied, though, it ruins the image completely.

Unfortunately, speakers and writers like to copy phrases that have impressed them without thinking about what they really mean.

Here’s a couple of examples of figurative language that fail.

‘The icing on the cake’ and ‘The cherry on top’

These expressions refer to something positive. We use them when something happens to make a good situation even better.

Examples:
He gained top marks in every subject; the scholarship prize was the icing on the cake.
She had a baby boy, born on his grandfather’s birthday, which was the cherry on top.

The figurative fail comes when we use these expressions for negative situations that have become worse.

Example:
First I lost my job, then the dog died, and when I broke my arm it was the icing on the cake.

No it wasn’t.

And it wasn’t ‘the cherry on top’ either.

The figurative expression has to be negative, too, if the image is to succeed.

After those misfortunes, breaking your arm might have been ‘the final nail in the coffin’ or ‘the last straw’.

‘The last straw’ might not sound negative but it’s a shorter form of ‘the last straw that broke the camel’s back’, which is definitely negative from the camel’s point of view.

More alternatives for other (negative) situations:
The tipping (or breaking) point.
The final trigger.
The match that lit the fuse.
The spark that lit the fire.*

*This could also be used positively, depending on context: for example, if the ‘spark’ lit the ‘fire’ of someone’s imagination.

When imagery (figurative language) takes your readers somewhere other than where you want them to go, it fails.