[Melanthe]

I saw some references to metaphors in another thread, and wanted to ask you all about it.

I love metaphors. So often it's the only way to really communicate something.

Why do you suppose that is? I mean, what about being INFJ makes the use of metaphors so natural and necessary, in a way that it isn't for other types?

 

[Alaya]

I use a lot of metaphors to convey the complexity of my thoughts into a language that others can understand. If I try to say exactly what's on my mind, most of the times it comes out as gibberish. However, metaphors and analogies help me create a very effective medium for me to express myself.

 

[ohnoezitsjoez]

I use a lot of metaphors to convey the complexity of my thoughts into a language that others can understand. If I try to say exactly what's on my mind, most of the times it comes out as gibberish. However, metaphors and analogies help me create a very effective medium for me to express myself.

Pretty much this for me to. It is to the point that at work people tease me "Oh god heres another metaphor."

 

[Hastings]

I often think in pictures, so metaphors work as a link between my thought process and conveying my ideas to others.

 

[Adriana]

I think in analogies. It's how I understand the world and make my world view understandable to others.

 

[The Proof]

to avoid conflict, ofc

 

[Hastings]

to avoid conflict, ofc

Care to expand on this?

 

[Reicheru]

they tell a story, making it more relatable. oftentimes, it's easier to get the story across by wrapping it up in a metaphor than by telling it straight with seemingly adjacent details that at first glance don't add up to much. </inferiorSe>
and the same with sarcasm; it allows the reader to arrive at the point via a seemingly cryptic tunnel of backwards thinking, irony, and a little thing called common sense.

everything tells a story. i see it as my job to uncover it.

my friend-no-longer the INTJ had a name for me: Reiconteur (as in raconteur). i doorslammed him, but i like to hold onto that name.

 

[The Proof]

Care to expand on this?

well the more indirect you are the less you stand to hurt people with god's honest truth

 

[Vivid Melody]

I think it has something to do with dom Ni and inferior Se. Sometimes something is just too deep to only convey through ordinary words.

 

[flicker099]

Sometimes when I want to translate what is in my mind into actual words, metaphors help ease the way. Metaphors can express the way we say things so much better.

INFJs have a love for symbolism and deeper meaning that metaphors provide. And if INFJs were a literary term, we would be a metaphor. Metaphors draw parallels to different objects/situations, and I like to think that INFJs can make connections that many people wouldn't be able to.

 

[geekofalltrades]

It's all about the symbolism, baby. Like flicker099 said above. To take the theory-of-typology route, it's that our dominant Ni is excellent at identifying and connecting symbolistic meanings, and metaphor seems a natural way to express those connections. The spoken metaphor becomes like the hairspray-imprint you take of a spider's web. (See what I did there? See it!?!?!?!?! teeheeeheeheehee)

 

[ohTOMICho]

You know how if you only speak English and need to communicate to a Spanish-speaking person, you'd need a translator?

Metaphors are INFJ-Translators.