Mixed metaphors

Ratna Raman

Various rules structure a language.  Different points of view coalesce to give us any language, rich and textured with history and memory.  Language however is not cast in stone.   There is nothing formulaic about any living language because each language borrows and assimilates from other languages around it. To understand how ideas change over a period of time, we need to examine language registers.
Expressions, words, axioms, proverbs, metaphors and similes also record shifts in human perspectives. Take the expression  "not worth an oyster." This implied something of little value in times when the oceans were plentiful and full of easy to eat fish. Oysters had to be prised open to eat and contained minimal edible content at the end of all the hard work. The discovery that oysters actually turned grit into pearl led to growth of the oyster farming industry and today gourmet dining   and MasterChef have transformed the once lowly oyster into an expensive, much sought after delicacy.
Language records graphically for us the shifts in our thinking and perspectives.  Take the expression "All is fair in love and war."  Once it was used to sanction all manner of terrible behaviour.  In personal life and on the battlefield, love and war are now no longer uncontested territories for the display of unbridled individualism.  Now the 'Geneva Convention'  provides protocol  endorsing the basic rights of prisoners, the wounded and  civilians in  war zones  The axiom "love is blind" nudges us to recognise that   subjectivity rather than fair play is a more accurate indicator to explain  how people in love function.
"When life gives you lemons, make yourself lemonade," is a popular saying. Traditional healing systems   emphasised the inclusion of astringent and sour  tastes .  Further corroboration from modern medical research now speaks of the added benefits of skin and pith.  Recognising the miraculous powers of the lemon, we now need to say:  "Thank goodness lemons have now been factored into human lives!"
 The expression, "there is more than one way to skin a cat," is both gruesome and graphic.  Such an act would have animal rights activists and PETA volunteers camping in droves at the offending site. This phrase was possibly coined when the skinning of animals for use by humans was a routine occurrence.  Metaphorically, it states that any given situation can be dealt with in multiple ways. 
The expression "You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs," is attributed to Francois de  Charette (1763-1798,  French Royalist soldier,  leader of the bloody event  Revolt in the Vendee) who tried to play down his responsibility for innumerable  battle deaths. He was executed by a firing squad.    Of course, he spoke in French, but his observation found its way all over the egg-eating world   through the English language.  The argument that collateral damage is unavoidable in order to create is untenable (unacceptable), especially  when   violence originates from   external or cultural sources.
 The breaking of an organic egg for an omelette is quite  different  from the   cracking open of the eggshell   by the ready-to-hatch  chick.   We could extend this analogy to examine the working of   'fission' and 'fusion.' Both are ways of generating nuclear energy.  Fission (involving the   breaking up of atoms ) never occurs in nature. The atomic bomb, an example of nuclear fission, is only produced in laboratories.  Fusion (the combining of atoms)  happens in nature  to stars such as the sun. When humans simulate nuclear fusion hydrogen bombs are produced.   Violence outside of nature only creates destruction and must therefore be eschewed.    Maybe, we could make a new start and "use unfertilized eggs   to make  omelettes."