History Main / Literalmetaphor

--->'''Sunny:''' See, she'd bonk him on the head right there is she could. Bonk bonk.\\

* ''Worst of the Time Lords'': [[https://doctorwhy.livejournal.com/18096.html In a spoileriffic panel,]] the [[Series/DoctorWho Tenth Doctor]] comments, "The one time Series/{{Torchwood}} might have been useful, the Master hand sent them to the Himalayas on a wild goose chase. I originally thought he was using a figure of speech." If the picture is to be believed, he was not.

** YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: The "[[Doorstopper/MythsAndReligion Myths And Religion]]" section of {{Doorstopper}} mentions The ''Codex Gigas'' a book 3 feet long, 20 inches wide, more than 8 inches thick (yes, the book is as THICK as a regular sheet of paper is wide) and weighs 166 pounds (that's 92cm × 50cm × 22cm, weighing 74.8 kg). This trope is namechecked in a note that says even ''lifting'' it would be difficult.

* ''WebVideo/StevenHe'': At the end of "How Asian Parents Flex 2", the two parents start telling their kids to do increasingly impossible things...and then Steven's dad won the argument by tell his son to ''cook minute rice in 58 seconds. ''

* Website/DeviantArt contributor Daniel-Remo-Art creates an odd interpretation of "disco's dead" with [[http://daniel-remo-art.deviantart.com/art/Disco-Is-Dead-Iray-568673665 this Deviation]] of an [[OurZombiesAreDifferent undead]] version of Characters/{{Dazzler}}. (Warning, slightly NSFW.)

* On Website/{{Vine}}, [=DeStorm=] Power gives us [[https://vine.co/v/OHiaDtEXtHx this gem]]:

** [[Recap/TheNostalgiaCriticS7E19 Top 11 Best]] ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episodes. After Creator/DanteBasco as Zuko [[FrameBreak punches down the Critic out of the video player]] and into the Website/YouTube comments section below, the Nostalgia Critic retaliates by calling out a "FlameWar". That is, he grabs negative comments and throw them at the firebender. And when low on ammunition, he yells "Creator/JossWhedon is overrated!" to make more appears.

* In "Spherical Trigonometry'' by Creator/KenAsamatsu, a billionaire occultist orders the construction of a shelter to protect himself from the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that [[Literature/TheHoundsOfTindalos attack through angles]]. Everything in the shelter is curved; there are no angles anywhere inside...until the protagonist sleeps with the occultist's TrophyWife, creating a LoveTriangle.

* In "Spherical Trigonometry'' by Creator/KenAsamatsu, a billionaire occultist orders the construction of a shelter to protect himself from the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that [[Literature/TheHoundsOfTindalos attack through angles]]. Everything in the shelter is curved; there are no angles anywhere inside...until the protagonist sleeps with the occultist's TrophyWife, creating LoveTriangle.

* In October 2022, an article in ''The Economist'' compared the short length of embattled British Prime Minister Liz Truss' premiership[[note]]she'd been in the job for five weeks by that point, but part of that was taken up by the mourning period for Queen Elizabeth II[[/note]] to the shelf-life of a head of lettuce. [[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers British tabloid]] ''The Daily Star'' seized on the metaphor and began a livestream of an actual head of lettuce next to a framed picture of Truss, asking readers which of them would last longer. Six days into the stream, with the lettuce still fresh, Truss announced her resignation.

* At one point during the Literature/StarTrekTheLostEra novel ''The Buried Age'', Picard recalls an incident aboard the ''Stargazer'' where an unfortunate interaction between their warp engines and a singularity created a temporal anomaly that literally blew the ship into the middle of the next week. (Apparently, getting everything back in temporal sync was a right pain.)

* At one point during the Literature/StarTrekTheLostEra novel ''The Buried Age'', Picard recalls an incident aboard the ''Stargazer'' where an unfortunate interaction between their warp engines and a singularity created a temporal anomaly that literally blew the ship into the middle of the next week.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens''

--->'''[[Film/IronMan Tony Stark]]:''' Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things.

* In ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'', Red says his famous speech about "[[EarnYourHappyEnding crawling through a river of shit and coming out clean on the other end]]" ''during'' the moment [[spoiler:Andy makes his escape through the sewer pipe [[RedemptionInTheRain and is greeted outside by a heavy rain]].]]

* In ''Hench'', a book by Natalie Zina Walschots about corrupt superheros, data-crunching protagonist Anna discovers that the boyfriend-girlfriend superhero team Supercollider and Quantum Entanglement is mostly supported by ''Quantum's'' skill--her powers are stronger, she's overall more competent, and also, she's not a narcissistic monster. However, she's been forced into a passive female type of role while Supercollider takes the lion's share of the credit, both because he emotionally abused her into it and because their superhero org picked the charismatic white guy over the Maori woman. At the end of the book it turns out that [[spoiler: Supercollider ''can't'' fly like everyone thought. Whenever it looked like he was flying, he actually "took off" by using his super-strength to jump really high, and Quantum levitated him the rest of the way. So she both figuratively ''and'' literally carried his ass.]]

--->"I want their heads yesterday! '''Actually''' yesterday!"

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', After the MineCartMadness mini-game, Ma Mole comments her belief that Mario (Who is saving her children) will drop in on them any minute. Just as Pa Mole is telling her that Mario still has to use the door, Mario and co. ''do'' drop in- through the roof.

* In the ''WebAnimation/CampCamp'' episode "Cult Camp", the [[{{Brainwashing}} brainwashed]] campers are prepping for a "killer" party featuring poisoned flavor-aid à la [[UsefulNotes/JimJones The Peoples Temple]], which has all been organized by the secret Cult Leader Daniel.

* Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., the future Justice of the United States Supreme Court, served in the Union Army during the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar, and was wounded in action several times. In the aftermath of Antietam, a friend found him wandering around the battlefield in a daze and asked what was wrong. Holmes mumbled, ''"shot in the neck"'', which surprised the friend (since this was, in those days, Army slang for being drunk). Then he looked closer...