Do people have a hard time understanding analogies?

Question

This is in response to a previous question- I used a car analogy to explain decision making and some of the responses i got are "women are not cars!"

LOL really?! You coulda fooled me.j/k

Seriously, is the use of an analogy when speaking about something just a way to make you look like a misogynist? So just better not open your mouth for fear of having your words taken to the literal extreme?

Answer 1

maybe your analogy wasnt good enough

Answer 2

Analogies are fine, if they are applicable to the situation. Some analogies overly simplify a situation to point of absurdity.

Answer 3

Assuming that you are a male, you are at risk of  being labeled as a misogynist by any woman searching for hidden insults and a reason to cry foul play. It all stems from a deeply rooted victim mentality.  Either that or the person who took offense is quite young or uneducated and cannot understand how an analogy works to aid in the understanding of a topic. This offended person could be a combination of all three.

I am a woman and I was quite able to understand your analogy and took no offense, but I am also not a feminist, a pre-teen, or an uneducated fool.

Edit: Upon further review of said statement, I believe you  have jumped to the wrong conclusion.  The word misogynist was not mentioned and the answerer's statement was taken out of context. I believe the intentions of the answerer was to express to you that a woman will have a strong reaction to being compared to others because a woman is not an inanimate object.  She simply suggested that people do not react well to being compared to others and that you should not be surprised by the  human emotion elicited by such a comparison.

Answer 4

some people might, i guess i have no problem with comprehending analogies

Answer 5

Honey, did you read the rest of what I wrote? Or did you just read that part and think I'm not capable of understanding your poor analogy for comparing women?

I thought I answered your previous question fairly. I don't think you are a misogynist, I just think you need to think before you speak! Don't say things to women like "you're no fun" if you don't want them mad at you!

Yes - I did darlin'. :) I put in a few more cents.

Thanks Molly. I appreciate that! :)

Peace out people. I think this is my cue that it's bed time! Have a good night. That includes you Raphy!

Answer 6

I had no problem with it.

Answer 7

According to my experience in marriage/family relationship counseling, I would encourage you to continue to use analogies.

However, there is always space for improvement in this area.  If used properly, you will benefit a whole lot from using it.

Here is a book that focuses on using analogies to communicate feelings/emotions.

"the Language of Love" by Gary Smalley and Dr. John Trent

In this book, what you called analogy is called "word picture".   This book tells you how to use it and it had helped many people in intimate relationship.

Just bear one thing in mind: there is no rigid rule to make all relationship work because everyone is unique.  So, be flexible and be courageous in trying out different ways of communication.

Answer 8

Some people have trouble, some analogies just stretch a little far to the point that they are hard to follow.

I found a lot of people from non-english speaking backgrounds have a lot of trouble with analogies as they focus sometimes too much on words than concepts. Some people are just a bit slow.

Answer 9

i remember i used an analogy in my freshmen debate class and im pretty sure the entire class didnt even know what an analogy was. it was pretty pathetic.

Answer 10

Eh, s***w 'em.