Page 61 - The Irony Board
P. 61
Into the Body
Wind sucked from high
Pressure to low
Is wrongly felt
By most to blow;
A similar
Aberration
Clings to currents
Of temptation.
The common-sense notion of “blowing from” is analogous to
“tempted by” in its misplacement of the source of the action. The
emotional attraction of an object, unlike real magnetism, is not
among its inherent properties (see “shifting poles” above). This
primitive inaccuracy is preserved and perpetuated in idiom. As a
result, we find it easy to blame external elements for uncomfortable
or inappropriate desires. Another attempt by Gluckman to press a
physical phenomenon into service as a metaphor of human
behavior.
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