Impermissible Mixed Metaphors
Definition:
Impermissible mixed metaphors are metaphors that conflict because they serve different purposes.
Examples:
(English)
The argument-as-journey and argument-as-container metaphors serve different purposes. Argument-as-journey can address the “direction” of the argument and the argument-as-container can address the “amount of content” of the argument. The incompatibility of the ideas of “direction” and “amount” in the same sentence makes the following examples semantically impermissible:
Source:
This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library. Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003.