"We'll make hay while the sun shines"

In his "Commentary" on "Naturalism without tears", this blog, Kramer wonders about metonymic and metaphoric strenthenings, narrowings, and broadenings of the things 'we live by'.

I love an idiom. Kramer is right that a Gricean fastidious analysis of the precise literal meaning of the words in question is usually otiose.

Grice, like Austin, was, to use Grice's descript, a "relentless literalism". I think this is a class thing. And an age thing. Perpetual adolescents tend to be 'relentless literalists', especially if Brit and male. I find girls not so. They go straight to the metaphor. It's very tiring to argue with girls, some boys think, because they fail to see the LITERALNESS of what boys say. Or servants say. Because a boy was originally a 'servant'. While a girl is a girl is a girl.