Much to the chagrin of my high school English teacher, my classmates and I always got our metaphors and similes mixed up.
But take heart, Mrs. Potter! It turns out that our brains did understand that there are differences between the two:
LinkMidori Shibata and colleagues at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan, asked 24 men and women to indicate, while in an functional MRI scanner, whether they could understand a series of metaphors or similes.
In keeping with previous fMRI research, participants' brains were active in the left inferior frontal gyrus. But Shibata's team also found that, when processing similes, there was an increase in activity in the medial frontal region, which may be linked to processes of inference. The right inferior frontal gyrus was more active for metaphors.
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This should not even be an issue. If a child is old enough to ask a question, he/she is old enough to get an (truthful) answer. If an adult is not mature enough to deal with reality he/she should stay at home in their fantasy world and not attempt to drag us all into it.
What is wrong with the world, why are there so many imbeciles around?
Evolution and survival of the fittest should take care of the masses of incompetent idiots, but we cater to them, so they survive and they reproduce and they take space and resources. And then when we all struggle, they demand we provide for them.
I am intolerant of stupidity.
(Yes, this is sarcasm)