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Is the sentence :

“I have a little pin that says I didn't miss school for nine years.”

to be taken as being metaphorical, that I unnderstand the sentence to say something like “I am quite sure of the fact that I haven't missed school for nine years ...”, or am I supposed to take this sentence literally, that this person actually received a little pin, maybe to put on his clothing, on which is printed (in small font) that he didn’t miss school for nine years?

sara
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    Hello, sara. While the literal reading seems far more likely, the metaphorical sense is not impossible. But it would be a novel metaphor, which it is unfair to spring on the unaware. From an etic point of view (a total outsider), it could even be a lie. It's not a question we can answer here. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 27 '19 at 16:34
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    It can't possibly be literal because pins can't speak. Therefore it's metaphorical. Deeply. – John Lawler Dec 27 '19 at 16:41
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    Perhaps the pin is possessed, or has a button that speaks a preprogrammed message. Without context, we really have no way of knowing. – TaliesinMerlin Dec 27 '19 at 17:50
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    We often say that written or printed words 'say' something; the last bus ticket I bought said "valid on day of issue only". Merriam-Webster gives a meaning for 'say' of '3a: INDICATE, SHOW the clock says five minutes after twelve'. A bully might say 'I have a fist that says you're going to shut up'. – Michael Harvey Dec 27 '19 at 18:54
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    @Edwin Ashworth - I don't see the metaphorical meaning as especially new. 'You say I didn't do my duty in 1914. I have three medals that say otherwise.' – Michael Harvey Dec 27 '19 at 18:57
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    @JohnLawler: Some dictionaries have an entry for say similar to this one: "to indicate or show: What does your watch say?" That is pretty much what the OP's "little pin" is doing. Whether that usage is literal or metaphorical is at least arguable, perhaps not as absolute as you insist. – Robusto Dec 27 '19 at 20:30
  • @Michael Harvey OP makes it plain that she is asking whether the pin actually exists or not. The novel metaphor is (putatively) 'I have a pin that says ...' = 'Lodged in my memory is ...'. Please give me some credibility. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 29 '19 at 11:49
  • @Robusto FumbleFingers has posted somewhere on the site that failing to use the broadened definition of 'metaphor' to include all transferred usages (including dead metaphors) is naive. Non-ELU. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 29 '19 at 11:51
  • Is the 'little pin', then, a relative of the 'little birds' that tell people things? – Michael Harvey Dec 29 '19 at 13:36
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    @JohnLawler - "Says" is often used to mean "has written on it", and few people would regard this as metaphorical. – Hot Licks Dec 29 '19 at 15:44

1 Answers1

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It is called a "perfect attendance" pin. If this was spoken in English it could, indeed, be literally true. These were more common 50 years go than they are today.

Google will show you many pictures of these pins.

pin

GEdgar
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  • Google may show me many pictures of those pins, but absent any accompanying argumentation none will answer the OP's question, which is whether such a usage is literal or metaphorical. – Robusto Dec 27 '19 at 20:32
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    @Robusto - Literal and metaphorical are both possible, no way to know based on the statement alone, so the best we can do here is advise which is the more likely meaning. Given that such pins do exist and given the specific phrasing "I have a little pin" I think it's likely it was meant literally in this case. – nnnnnn Dec 28 '19 at 03:51
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    This is a good reminder that literalness is relative . . . it's a literal pin, but the pin doesn't literally say something about the speaker. So the claim is literally true by comparison it to a situation where the pin is figurative, but not by comparison to a situation where the pin actually reads " had perfect attendance for nine years". – ruakh Dec 28 '19 at 07:47
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    @ruakh Or indeed one where the pin has a built-in speaker that speaks the words, “I didn’t miss school for nine years”. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Dec 28 '19 at 11:15
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    @ruakh One of the definitions of "say" is "(of a text or a symbolic representation) convey specified information". The pin is a symbolic representation that conveys the information that the recipient had perfect attendance, just as a Purple Heart medal says you were injured in battle. – Barmar Dec 29 '19 at 00:44
  • @Barmar: But the pin doesn't indicate who its recipient was, or the amount of time that it covers, which is what the OP had expected if the sentence were meant literally. – ruakh Dec 29 '19 at 00:53
  • Only sara can say what the OP meant by "literally". – GEdgar Dec 29 '19 at 00:55
  • @ruakh Unless they took the pin from someone else, the possession of the pin "says" that. Anyway, I suspect the OP was really asking whether the statement is about an actual or metaphorical pin. – Barmar Dec 29 '19 at 00:59
  • @GEdgar: Dude, the question literally explains what the OP meant by "literally". Did you stop reading just before the end? :-) – ruakh Dec 29 '19 at 01:01
  • @Barmar: (See my reply to GEdgar.) – ruakh Dec 29 '19 at 01:02