Bad Analogies
Aldranin
17-09-2005, 16:19
I am so fucking tired of people making analogies that do not fit situations correctly. If you can't understand the concept of analogies or how to make them, don't make them. Please use this thread to teach people that don't understand them how to write correct ones. You may use actual examples, but this thread is not meant to flame anyone specifically, so please do not cite who you are quoting, considering that the correction of their analogy will probably make them look like an idiot. I'll post my own examples as I come across them, and keep this thread updated with bad analogies regularly. Also, if you post a bad analogy, please post the argument it relates to, and post an example of a proper analogy.
Eutrusca
17-09-2005, 16:23
I am so fucking tired of people making analogies that do not fit situations correctly. If you can't understand the concept of analogies or how to make them, don't make them. Please use this thread to teach people that don't understand them how to write correct ones. You may use actual examples, but this thread is not meant to flame anyone specifically, so please do not cite who you are quoting, considering that the correction of their analogy will probably make them look like an idiot. I'll post my own examples as I come across them, and keep this thread updated with bad analogies regularly. Also, if you post a bad analogy, please post the argument it relates to, and post an example of a proper analogy.
You mean like this one?
He's like an outboard motor in a septic tank: never gets anywhere, but stirs up a lot of shit!
( It's not in quotes, 'cause it's one I've used myself! ) :D
Aldranin
17-09-2005, 16:27
You mean like this one?
He's like an outboard motor in a septic tank: never gets anywhere, but stirs up a lot of shit!
( It's not in quotes, 'cause it's one I've used myself! ) :D
I hate you Eutrusca - you're not helping me to stay angry here by posting funny things. :D Might I ask what that was used as an analogy for, and could you make it fit the situation better if it really was a bad analogy?
Eutrusca
17-09-2005, 16:39
I hate you Eutrusca - you're not helping me to stay angry here by posting funny things. :D Might I ask what that was used as an analogy for, and could you make it fit the situation better if it really was a bad analogy?
Humor has a way of doing that. :D
I've used it many times over the years, but since I did lots and lots of reading when I was very young, I seldom use analogies incorrectly. ;)
One of the times I used it was in reference to a co-worker at GE when I was in employee relations there. He was not amused. ROFL! :D
Liskeinland
17-09-2005, 16:50
I hate bad analogies as well. People always use them when arguing with me. It's so irritating.
Aldranin
17-09-2005, 16:52
Humor has a way of doing that. :D
I've used it many times over the years, but since I did lots and lots of reading when I was very young, I seldom use analogies incorrectly. ;)
One of the times I used it was in reference to a co-worker at GE when I was in employee relations there. He was not amused. ROFL! :D
Hah, that's awesome. I don't read very often, but I write an assload, so I have a good feel for stuff like that. Normally I don't make analogies that don't fit a situation almost exactly.
I guess that's a lie. I read a lot of current events shit. I don't read casually very often. Most of the time there has to be a point to it.
Aldranin
17-09-2005, 18:10
Hmmm. Well, I don't want to post the most recent ones I've seen, because people will immediately know who said them and proceed to bash them ruthlessly, because that's how people are. Instead, I will use Maddox, because while I like what he writes, and agree with the subject that the analogy is meant to explain, the analogy is somewhat inaccurate and can be easily corrected without anyone feeling bad. Here's a link to the article (http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=walmart) so that you will know what it's about. In it, he says the following, which almost stands alone as a bad analogy:
... saying that an illegal immigrant doesn't deserve to be paid the same wages as an American because he doesn't belong here in the first place is like saying that a person trapped in a well shouldn't be saved because he shouldn't have been playing around the well in the first place.
These two things are not analogous, as the immigrant is in no way "stuck." While the person in the well is trapped and cannot leave, the immigrant can go back to where he originally was and work somewhere else. A better analogy would be as follows:
Saying that an illegal immigrant doesn't deserve to be paid the same wages as an American because he doesn't belong here in the first place is like saying that a naked lady standing on the street does not deserve to be protected from rape, because she shouldn't have been naked in public anyway.
This accounts for the illegality of the immigrant's presence, that being the lady's public nakedness; as well as the lack of legal recognition due to an act of illegality, in that the lady is not protected because she is naked in public in a manner similar to how an illegal immigrant is not granted the protection of being paid equally for equal work because he is not allowed to be in the area without a passport or a green card.
"When it comes to analogies, you're like... someone who can't make them."
Aldranin
17-09-2005, 18:25
"When it comes to analogies, you're like... someone who can't make them."
Please don't tell me someone actually said that.
Please don't tell me someone actually said that.
Yes. Someone did.
Aldranin
17-09-2005, 18:34
Yes. Someone did.
Please say they weren't serious...
Please say they weren't serious...
I guess he was.
Please say they weren't serious...If it was on this forum, chances are, they were.
Aldranin
17-09-2005, 18:36
*passes out*
*passes out*He passed out! Someone get his watch while I grab his shoes! :p
*passes out**Sticks Hand in a bowl of warm water.*
*passes out*
he's as passed out as, um, a rock?
Aldranin
17-09-2005, 18:55
*Sticks Hand in a bowl of warm water.*
*wakes up really pissed off at JuNii*
Gramnonia
17-09-2005, 18:57
He passed out! Someone get his watch while I grab his shoes! :p
But, but, that'd be like exploiting an illegal immigrant by paying him less than a native-born American! After all, you're just taking advantage of a situation which he cannot help. :p
Aldranin
17-09-2005, 19:05
But, but, that'd be like exploiting an illegal immigrant by paying him less than a native-born American! After all, you're just taking advantage of a situation which he cannot help. :p
.... *flames erupt from ears* Bad analogy! The immigrant can help the situation by leaving the country. Rarrr! You're going to analogy hell.
Sick Dreams
17-09-2005, 19:18
Got this from an in-law
"A fence on the southern border of the U.S. would be just like the Berlin wall"
And this was even AFTER I told him/her that I fully supported letting as many immigrants in as wanted to come. But apparently, a fence by any other name is excactly the same anyways.
Got this from an in-law
"A fence on the southern border of the U.S. would be just like the Berlin wall"
And this was even AFTER I told him/her that I fully supported letting as many immigrants in as wanted to come. But apparently, a fence by any other name is excactly the same anyways.Pah! The anti-fascist rampart wasn't meant to keep the Westies out, it was meant to keep the Easties IN! :p
Sick Dreams
17-09-2005, 19:22
Pah! The anti-fascist rampart wasn't meant to keep the Westies out, it was meant to keep the Easties IN! :p
Thats what I thought, but apparently not!? :confused:
Thats what I thought, but apparently not!? :confused:As someone who's grandparents got through before the wall went up, you thought correctly. ;)
.... *flames erupt from ears* Bad analogy! The immigrant can help the situation by leaving the country. Rarrr! You're going to analogy hell.analogy Hell is as bad as...
...
...
Ok, I got nuthin...
Aldranin
17-09-2005, 19:51
analogy Hell is as bad as...
...
...
Ok, I got nuthin...
:D