“...all humans are given the same set of primary-metaphor building blocks, but different language and cultural groups put the blocks together in different ways. Some individuals even force the blocks together in ways that don’t fit – which is the major reason we get mixed metaphors.” LanguageMetaphorMeaningBuilding Blocks Book:Mixed Metaphors: Their Use and Abuse Source: Mixed Metaphors: Their Use and Abuse
“The ‘death’ of a metaphor is the loss of a connection between a metaphor and a specific word, not the loss of the conceptual metaphor itself. ‘Dead’ metaphors are words and phrases that were previously metaphoric, not conceptual metaphors that have disappeared. Conceptual metaphors generally ‘outlive’ the specific words and expressions that involve them.” MetaphorMeaningConcept Book:Mixed Metaphors: Their Use and Abuse Source: Mixed Metaphors: Their Use and Abuse
“Mixed metaphors with two source domains that don’t make sense together, […] are the structures that most deserve the name ‘mixed metaphors’.” MetaphorMeaning Book:Mixed Metaphors: Their Use and Abuse Source: Mixed Metaphors: Their Use and Abuse