ADRIENNE ROSS ATTACKED UNFAIRLY FOR METAPHOR

TheCypressTimes.com ^ | 01/26/2010 | Ron Devito

[Patriot1259]

Adrienne Ross came under attack by two hate blogs (“Bree Palin” and “Palingates”), because the intent of her metaphorical language in an article pertaining to Levi Johnston was twisted and distorted. In “Levi: When Lying Dogs Won’t Sleep; Updated,” Ms. Ross said,

“I believe there’s hope for Levi; I really do. And I hope he grabs a hold of it soon because he’s treading on very thin Alaska ice. Like I said at the start, there’s something to be said for letting sleeping dogs lie. But when a lying dog refuses to put his rabid mouth to sleep, sometimes you just have to put that dog down.”

[Salamander]

“Levi Johnston by posting for Playgirl”

Is he aware that 80+% of the readership of that rag is gay men?

[VRWCmember]

By “put that dog down,” Ms. Ross meant “put the dog in its place,” not the literal translation of “euthanize.” The hate bloggers intentionally misinterpreted Ms. Ross’ sentence to suggest that she was advocating the murder of Levi Johnston.

She should have used a different "metaphor". The only meaning for "putting a dog down" among dog owners, dog lovers, dog rescuers, etc. is euthanization. The phrase "put that dog down" is never used in the context of "putting a dog in its place". So the "intentional misinterpreting" of her sentence is a reasonable "misinterpretation". My suggestion to Mr. Ross is that if she is going to use metaphors, she needs to be very careful that she understands what those metaphors mean.