Metaphors In The Business World
We have already heard about metaphors being used in a lot of things especially works that involve literature, music, and many more. But metaphors can also be commonly heard during business talks, business meetings, business presentations, and many other times when businessmen share information or just hang out with each other.
Many of them are actual phrases that you may have already heard of before and they can easily apply to almost anything business related, so these business metaphors are not all that strange. Metaphors examples have also been known to capture the attention of the readers or listeners. They create a sort of connection with other people, and they can help make ideas that sound complicated become something that sounds simple instead.
So What Is a Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two objects that are usually not like each other. In contrast to another figure of speech, the similes and metaphor make the comparison without the use of “like” or “as”.
Examples of Business Metaphors
1. Time is money
This phrase does not mean that time is a form of currency that can be exchanged but rather that time is something very valuable that it might as well be money. For probably nearly everyone in the world, time is the most valuable and scarce resource out there.
2. To buy some time
This does not necessarily mean that you would take out your wallet and give some cash to someone just so you can buy some time for yourself or for someone else. What this statement means is that you just need to extend the amount of time someone or maybe even yourself in order to finish doing something. This is usually something you would hear in a situation wherein you would need to save yourself or someone from impending doom, fatal or not.
3. To spend time
Time is not money, but it can be similar to money in many ways and one thing that you can do with the time that you can also do with money would be spending it. Spending time is pretty much the same as hanging out with someone or focusing on one thing to do at a time especially like doing your job or your own personal hobby.
4. To be worth waiting for
We have probably already established the fact that time is actually very valuable and sometimes that value can be wasted. So what this phrase means that someone or something wishes to be someone or something that people or somebody or something else would be willing to wait for.
5. To waste time
There are also times wherein there is pretty much nothing to do with the time we have on hand at the very moment. So our only real solution for this kind of dilemma would be to look for some sort of way for us to kill time just so we can save ourselves from being bored. It is better to kill time doing something then it is to just do nothing and at the same time killing time.
6. All dried up
This does not literally mean that we are dry to the bone, dehydrated, or are in desperate need of any form of moisturizing liquid that would revitalize us. What this phrase means is that we have used up all of our money and we are no longer able to spend anymore even though we absolutely have to or we just want to. We are spent and broke, is a more common way of saying it.
7. To float a loan
This phrase does not mean that when you have managed to somehow secure a loan application for yourself, you would just let the money that you borrowed float on a liquid surface. What this means is that you simply wish to borrow some money from someone because you are in need of it. It is just a simple meaning behind this sometimes perplexing metaphor.
8. Liquidity of assets
No, this phrase does not mean that the assets are made out of liquid molecules and that they need to be kept in a container that would prevent any sort of spillage. What this phrase means is that it is actually quite an easy process to turn one’s assets into that of cash that they could use to spend on whatever their hearts desire. It can also be interpreted that assets turning into cash is easy just like flowing water.
9. To keep one’s head above water
This metaphor does not simply mean that you have to keep your head constantly above the water level just so you can survive since we humans can not breathe underwater just like the fishes and other aquatic animals. what this means is that we just need to simply stay above the threshold that we subjectively set for our individual selves so that we would not be in the red as much as possible since going under would mean that we are screwed and have very limited options on where we can turn to for help.
10. Your wage is frozen
When you hear this phrase it makes it sound like it is something very alarming, like you are now unable to withdraw anything from your bank account because the company is no longer giving you any sort of monetary compensation for the amount of work that you do or any at all. Worry not as a wage freeze actually means that the company has just decided that they will not be increasing your wages for the time being and possibly in the future.
One hundred dollar bill frozen in ice
11. To go under
This metaphor means more than just simply going under something like a table, a chair, or a napkin. What this metaphor means is that if we have somehow managed to go under then we basically are in the red zone and it is very little we could do in order for us to get out of it.
