Monday, February 14, 2011

'Love is just a four letter word'

It's that rather over-commercialized St. Valentine's day here. Now I'll be first to admit I am the guy who still tries to give his wife a flower and romantic dinner and card, not so much because I am victim of advertising, but because I like an opportunity to spoil her, and she still has to cope with me in the other 364 non-Valentine days. And trust me, that's no holiday... anyway, I'm neck deep in this book, which, duh, has a romance in a Fantasy. So I thought... love seems to be the used as a metaphor (surely it's mostly a met-a-two?) and we could have a metaphor challenge here. Someone sent me 99 of these...

"No cord or cable can draw so forcibly, or bind so fast, as love can
do with only a single thread."
(Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, 1621)

Your turn :-)

6 comments:

Rowena Cory Daniells said...

Dave,

I just feel grateful that I have my DH in my life.

In books ... I like to have at least one love story on the boil in the narrative pot, along with all the other ingredients.

MataPam said...

"The rose," he announced. "Lovliest and most formidible of flowers. Arms of York and Lancaster. In medieval times, symbol of Jesus. Always, it has meant, beauty, love peace . . ."

He presented the bud to Martha Macnamera. It lay resting on his long fingers until she scooped it up. She sniffed it, and held it up to the light.

"Symbol? What is a symbol? This is a rose." She smiled and walked on.
(R.A.MacAvoy, Tea with the Black Dragon)

OK, so it wasn't a proper metaphore for love, but as an example of a romance entwined with a fantasy, or is it a fantasy element added to a romance, that is almost a mystery?

Whatever, it would have been flat without Oolong being totally gobsmacked by Martha.

Chris Large said...

Coffee. I've been through the grinder this year.

I try to avoid writing about love. It's unAustralian...

Kate Paulk said...

Chocolate, of course :)

And a husband who smiles and says "I have everything I want" when you ask him what he wants for his birthday or Christmas.

Chris Large said...

Well, we've had coffe and chocolate. All that's left now is beer. There's a great article about an Aussie microbrewery that's producing beer especially for the space tourism market, online today.

They're conducting zero-G tests in the US next month.

If that ain't love, I don't know what is.

MataPam said...

Chris, the results of those zero-G tests are something I want to see. One of my early efforts included a scene where security robots on a satellite were put out of commission by the spray of a (very illegal!) carbonated beverage in zero-G.

When the carbonation exceeds the surface tension . . .