In what has become an annual spring event, my 7th and 8th grade Italian class has been studying the use of metaphor. We always talk about metaphors, trying to go beyond the standard school definitions they already know. This year they went leaping into the idea by writing metaphors for chocolate. Those were fun and they poured out fast.
Then, as I do each year, I showed episode # 102 of Star Trek, The Next Generation, which is about the difficulty of encountering a culture that speaks entirely in metaphors. This episode is called "Darmok" and it is usually fairly overwhelming and frustrating, but they handled it well and soon began to realize how studying a language is very much like learning a long set of metaphors. As the movie repeated key metaphors, they began to be able to decode them and to even enjoy the process.
The surprise for me was when they suggested that we write metaphors similar to those we had heard in Darmok, the idea being that we would not use any form of "is" in the metaphor. That made each metaphor into something of a riddle, which increased the level of thought and fun involved in creating them.
We therefore present to you, our readers, a selection of their metaphor riddles, and we hope you'll tell us what your favorites are and what you think they mean. You may come up with even more interesting ideas for what they stand for than they did. Thank you for taking the time to connect our classroom to the world a little more deeply.
Chocolate metaphors
Chocolate is morning power.
Chocolate is bitter darkness.
Chocolate is a tempting power.
Chocolate is silky darkness.
Chocolate is bitter heaven.
Chocolate is a mysterious friend.
Chocolate is silk wrapped in darkness.
"Darmok" Metaphors
1. Black wood on the ground
2. Spring light from the ground
3. Cold heaven upon the grass
4. Glistening affection upon the hand
5. Comforting soul being
6. Crisp brown curl
7. Inside aches
8. Snow white blanket back
9. Birth of land
10. Soft skin protection
11. Nocturnal journey
12. Forest fear
13. Depressed shadows
14. God's fountain
15. Frozen cow goodness
16. Mouth neutralizer
17. Consumption of darkness
18. Life soaking
19. Non-escaping darkness
20. Money-spending goodness
21. Money-taking enemy
22. Pouring shade
23. Dark follower
24. Tall dark path
25. Black bouncing fun
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Comments: 28
These young men and women are clearly up to the task of taking a real world substance like chocolate, that can be experienced in all five senses, and expressing its qualia in a metaphorical way. They also are capable of both decoding and encoding metaphors in an alien tongue, which is both a tribute to their keen young minds as well as your facilitating skills as a second language instructor. Kobe Bryant, the NBA´s most valuable player, who speaks fluent Italian, would be as proud of these kids as I am.
My favorite metaphor of the chocolate batch was ¨chocolate is silk wrapped in darkness.¨That gets across the look, the feel, the texture and the smoothness of the taste experience of dark chocolate brilliantly.
The one I liked the most from the Darmok series the students developed out of watching the show ( I must confess I only watched the original series, I never ´grokked´ The Next Generation, so I am ignorant of this hypothetical extraterrestrial people and their idiom) was, ¨Frozen cow goodness.¨ That has associations with ice cream, with the building blocks of protein that milk provides, with the bucolic nature of a dairy, etc. Another clever creation, indeed!
Kudos to you, Gerry, and your alert and curious students.
The Darmok series is outside my comprehension so I couldn't decipher any well enough to risk a guess except for frozen cow goodness which might be ice cream... or not. However, I finally let myself relax, read these phrases aloud and just marveled and savored them.
I see many visions within them, even though my eyes are blinded to their meaning.
I hope these kids appreciate themselves with a great teacher like Gerry Wass to bring out these talented thoughts. Umm... would money-taking enemy be the tax collector? It's about that time. Ha Ha
Thanks for sharing these and great work, students.
18. Life soaking = Mindful
19. Non-escaping darkness = death
23. Dark follower = shadow
24. Tall dark path = a path in which you face the "shadow self"
Congratulations on your teaching and your students teaching us/you!
I'm developing a library program series called the "Polyglot Cafe" - where our patrons come in to socialize in many languages. It's an idea right now, but some of our multilingual patrons are helping me develop it. Soon it will be happening! Hey there, polyglots of planet earth - welcome to the Yellow Springs Community Library!
I am so pleased see you and these students are just as I remember class - New and wonderful everything! Congratulations to all of you for these fine metaphores.
Chocolate is bitter darkness = A surreal poet in the making here.
3. Cold heaven upon the grass = My goodness, the very old film, Splendor In the Grass, flashed across my mind with this. But with two teens drinking ice-cold chocolate shakes!
6. Crisp brown curl = Shaved chocolate atop some chocolately, good dessert.
22. Pouring shade = Sit forever under the hard mountain edge of chocolate lava flow.
24. Tall dark path = A girl describing a dark guy.
25. Black bouncing fun = A boy describing a girl of color.
Crisp brown curl A french fry or a potato chip
Money-taking enemy the government or taxes
Featured in the Triple Name Club.
Great job using descriptive metaphors, kids! (fun, too - Thanks!)
2. Spring light from the ground
Daffodils
3. Cold heaven upon the grass
Late snow
5. Comforting soul being
Soft music
9. Birth of land
Beach
10. Soft skin protection
Clothes
11. Nocturnal journey
Yeah, a dream
12. Forest fear
Fire
15. Frozen cow goodness
Yeah, Ben 'n Jerry
16. Mouth neutralizer
Gag
17. Consumption of darkness
Getting drunk
18. Life soaking
Yeah, like meditation
25. Black bouncing fun
Scottie dog
25. Black bouncing fun - trampoline
Mouth neutralizer was gum. You got shadow right for dark follower. Tall dark path was for an alley and you got french fry right for crisp brown curl.
Money-spending goodness was charity and money-taking enemy was indeed the government.
Thank you again for thinking about these. We hope you liked them and you made this a lot of fun for us. We would have said more but Señor Wass made us spend too much time studying Italian today!
I had to laugh at "mouth neutralizer" being gum. I never would have guessed that, but we're dealing with kids, after all.
2. spring light from the ground= yellow crocus
3. cold heaven upon the grass= morning dew
4. Glistening affection upon the hand=engagement ring
5. Comforting soul being= guardian angels
6. Crisp brown curl=shaved chocolate
7. Inside aches= broken heart
8. Snow white blanket back= lambs wool
9. Birth of land=sphagnum moss
10. Soft skin protection=hand cream
11. Nocturnal journey= dream
12. Forest fear=fire
13. Depressed shadows=ghosts
14. God's fountain=geyser
15. Frozen cow goodness=chocolate ice-cream
16. Mouth neutralizer=soap
17. Consumption of darkness=despair
18. Life soaking=tears
19. Non-escaping darkness=nightmare
20. Money-spending goodness=charity
21. Money-taking enemy=scam artists
22. Pouring shade=rain clouds
23. Dark follower=shadow
24. Tall dark path=tornado
25. Black bouncing fun=soccer ball
It's good to have a topic most of your class is familiar with. I mean, 'Mama mia,' and not the movie, it's good students learning Italian, eat chocolate secretly in class. Many a student may give you an apple, but not a chocolate bar. The reason is that speaking Italian makes you hungry and there is a real need to eat chocolate. Look at the Italian word for so long. Somebody says chow to me and I instantly think about chocolate.
Think of how the word chocolate could be used to make situations more pleasant. Instead of saying you're in deep do do, say, you're in deep chocolate, or, you're deep in super healthy dark chocolate that helps the brain remember Italian.
Could the Sistine Chapel have been painted without a chocolate bar? Probably was, but that was because they spoke Latin.
I hope I helped. Now to have some chocolate and read, 'Italiano For Dummies.'
1. Black wood on the ground: Pieces of charcoal that remind me of chocolate.
2. Spring light from the ground: A flower bud reaching for the sky.
3. Cold heaven upon the grass: Slices of watermelon.
4. Glistening affection upon the hand: Maybe a kiss on the hand after drinking chocolate milk.
5. Comforting soul being: Flying high on a swing with a carefree smile.
6. Crisp brown curl: Don't ever say, 'Your hair looks like a curly fry.'
7. Inside aches: Your stomach yearning for chocolate.
8. Snow white blanket back: Using baby powder is good, but not if excessive.
9. Birth of land: Vegetable poking up to see if it's a sunny day.
10. Soft skin protection: A suit of armor.
11. Nocturnal journey: Floating in rainbows.
12. Forest fear: I remember Bambi.
13. Depressed shadows: A place to be alone.
14. God's fountain: Life giving rain.
15. Frozen cow goodness: Happy steaks in my freezer.
16. Mouth neutralizer: Speaking Japanese.
17. Consumption of darkness: Nutritious dark chocolate.
18. Life soaking: Water balloon dropped on my head.
19. Non-escaping darkness: Wall Street.
20. Money-spending goodness: You pay, okay?
21. Money-taking enemy: Toll roads.
22. Pouring shade: Suddenly dark storm clouds move in.
23. Dark follower: Somebody waiting behind you in line who has a great suntan.
24. Tall dark path: walking along the treetops.
25. Black bouncing fun: Gerry's Jaguar.
Nice job.