Both the original, literal, and the derived figurative sense were used in Latin, but the figurative is older in English.

Why? Because we cannot ignore the metaphorical meaning of words either.

A good metaphor might embody the idea of an inclusive economy.

The terrorists hit multiple targets in Mumbai, both literally and figuratively.

But another step in metaphor building is needed to encapsulate the idea of economic inclusion.

If we take this metaphor at face value, there is a surprising consequence.

The marriage analogy has become a rather over used metaphor for Europe s efforts to integrate.

And one of the problems of knowing a word like synecdochically is that you really want an excuse to say synecdochically.

But in many other countries, the water is already flooding over the dikes, both literally and figuratively.

By bringing together what we know and what we don't know through analogy, metaphorical thinking strikes the spark that ignites discovery.

Metaphorical thinking is essential to how we understand ourselves and others, how we communicate, learn, discover and invent.

Enoch Sontonga died in 1905 in relative anonymity but his masterpiece lives on in the heart of a whole continent centuries later.

NEW YORK There is little doubt that green will be the metaphorical color of choice for world leaders when they gather at the G 20 Summit in Pittsburgh.

In the flat world of globalization to borrow Thomas Friedman s powerful metaphor it seems that Russia no longer has a place.

If you worry about financial Armageddon, it is indeed metaphorically the time to stock your bunker with guns, ammunition, canned food, and gold bars.

We recall the metaphor used by a well known North American writer who spoke of the Dracula effect , meaning that this kind of agreement can take place only in darkness.

Now, if you assume that this greater cross wiring and concepts are also in different parts of the brain, then it's going to create a greater propensity towards metaphorical thinking and creativity in people with synesthesia.

The metaphor, overwhelmingly endorsed by voters, stood for Roosevelt s mandate to fix the ailing economy along lines that were innovative but still essentially capitalist.

However, the metaphor is limited by a simple fact computers do not make computers.

The time seems ripe for that idea, and it fits with the triumph of inclusiveness symbolized by Obama himself. But another step in metaphor building is needed to encapsulate the idea of economic inclusion.

Well, think about what artists, novelists and poets have in common, the ability to engage in metaphorical thinking, linking seemingly unrelated ideas, such as, It is the east, and Juliet is the Sun.

The right metaphor would spin some of these ideas, or others like them, into a vision for America s future that, like the New Deal, would gain coherence as it is transformed into reality.

The political song transforms this timeless eternity into an active present and an opportunity for future progress.

With private investors reluctant to lend more or even to roll over existing debt, the bulk of Greek debt at the time of any restructuring (or whatever it is euphemistically called) will be from the official sector.

The metaphor comes from the famous mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing, who, along with John von Neumann and other theoreticians, uncovered the link between the mathematics of whole numbers and logic.

And when it became possible to manipulate DNA in vitro, the metaphor of a genetic program appeared even more precise scientists could construct experiments that corresponded to the reprogramming of cells merely by working on symbols in silicon.

The computer metaphor thus implies that living organisms are material systems that, facing an unforeseeable future, arrive at improbable solutions so that some of their progeny can survive in unpredictable conditions.

NEW YORK There is little doubt that green will be the metaphorical color of choice for world leaders when they gather at the G 20 Summit in Pittsburgh. Attention will focus on turning the green shoots of recovery into sustainable green growth, leading to green economies consistent with the goal of protecting the world s climate.

However, the metaphor is limited by a simple fact computers do not make computers.