History Main / LiteralMetaphor

-->“Mrowr,” purred Luna with a convincing hiccup at the end that left a little illusionary yellow feather floating in front of her mouth and the hint of a smile around her lips that made Dry Roast giggle despite himself.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'': One of Dogbert's stints as [[ExpertConsultant a consultant]] has him declare that the only things that matter are social networks, games, and phones. Since Dilbert's company isn't working on anything like that, he arranges for a literal "dustbin of history" to do curbside pickup of all the employees.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14055569/4/Effects-of-Basilisk Effects of Basilisk]]'' Ron literally swears a blue streak.
-->'''Neville:''' Gran always said that expression about cussing up a blue streak was something only a really pissed off wizard could do."

** In an early strip, Garfield wakes up, and steps out of bed, not realizing it's at the edge of the table, which he falls off of. Jon frantically asks what happens, and Garfield replies, "I got up on the wrong side of bed."

* A meta example would be ''TabletopGame/AyeDarkOverlord''. This game is a BlameGame. Literally, as the gameplay consist of blaming someone else for failing a mission the [[EvilOverlord Dark Overlord]] send your team (you and all the other players) on...

* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' adventure ''Orcbusters'' (a parody of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''), there is a wandering monster table -- it's the table where the monsters sit around playing poker with each other when it's not their turn to wander...
* La Capitan from ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'', a PirateGirl using TimeTravel to plunder riches from history, delivers this gem of an order in the FlavorText of one of her cards:

** The author himself gets one when the [[https://i.giantitp.com/fanart/ootslate2.gif "Comic is running late."]]

** [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0705.html "Those Don't Take Over Until The Graveyard Shift"]]:

** [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0851.html "Passive Voice"]]: Even ''D&D'' spell names can be used for this gag. When Durkon cast a ''hold person'' spell on Tarquin, the latter just throws off the effect and responds "OK." as he's grabbing the dwarf by the beard for a HumanHammerThrow.

** Combined with LiteralMinded; when the trio is trying to figure out how tabloid reporter Rita Skeeter is getting information when she's not allowed on the Hogwarts grounds, Harry brings up the possibility that she has a bug in the castle, leaving Ron to wonder what insects have to do with it, leading Harry to explain about {{Hidden Wire}}s, something Hermonine immediately shoots down as electrical devices don't work around Hogwarts. The conversation does inspire a EurekaMoment for Hermonione when she realizes that Rita is an Animagius that can turn into a beetle, allowing her to infiltrat the castle undetected.

* Red Witch's ''Fanfic/{{Misfitverse}}'': After being introduced, the mutant Unicorn (no relation to any canon version from the comics), weapons master of Factor Three (the heads of the European branch of the Hellfire Club) is noted as having a "terrible power". It's eventually revealed as Unicorn is [[spoiler:dying, and turns out to be literally terrible because it's completely useless in battle: Unicorn can change the color of flowers. Deadpool, who's the one who shot and fatally wounded him, is surprised by how useless it is; Unicorn's last words, responding to him, are "I know... Isn't it... a '''terrible''' power?"]]

* United States Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes 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...

* ''Fanfic/AFrozenFlower'': Given how ''Series/OddSquad'' embodies this trope, it's no surprise that this fanfic would also have some examples of literal metaphors.
** Just before they seal and trap Orchid in her dinosaur room, Oprah tells the Featherites to "work their magic". Dove, the leader of the Featherites, corrects her by saying that [[InsistentTerminology she and the others don't do magic, they do]] ''[[InsistentTerminology manipulation.]]''
** In this WorldOfWeirdness, root beer comes from actual tree roots. Roots that are square-shaped, on the other hand -- or ''square roots'' -- create regular beer.
** When Orchid pisses off Grimes by telling him that Till does matter, he threatens her and the other agents by ordering them to give her up. Orchid smiles and imagines his and other ''lamberos''' heads popping off of their bodies and rolling away.
* ''Fanfic/AllMixedUp'', another ''Series/OddSquad'' fanfic, has an example of this with fruit flies. There are two kinds -- the little insects, and the fruits with small wings. When Olive and Otto meet up with Larry and Phyllis on a case about fruit flies targeting Laralisa, they initially believe the couple is talking about the former, when in reality, they're talking about the latter.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', Tom Riddle tells Wormtail he will get to "perform a task most [his] followers would give their right hand to perform" -- little does Wormtail know that to perform the task you literally have to sacrifice your right hand as a flesh offering for Dark Magic.

--> He got [[spoiler:a lot of comedy material luring wanna-be dark lords and mad swordsmen to him]] so he could literally stab them in the back,”

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/ArchieComics https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Over_The_Edge.jpg]]]]

* In ComicBook/ArchieComics, the not-too-bright "Big Moose" sometimes has these. For instance, he once wrote Santa Claus for a pair of shoes with suction-cups so he can stay "on the ball", like his teacher is always telling him to do.

-->'''ComicBook/LadyBlackhawk:''' You drive. [[CallingShotGun I call shotgun.]]\\

* 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 ComicBook/{{Dazzler}}. (Warning, slightly NSFW.)

--->'''ComicBook/{{Ultron}}:''' You're unbearably naive.\\
'''ComicBook/TheVision:''' Well, I ''was'' [[ReallyWasBornYesterday born yesterday]].

** Jane confesses to her neighbor Joan that she used to be a villain. When Joan expresses doubt, Jane assures her it's true; "Been there, done that, got the T-shirt!" And to prove it, she [[http://eheroes.smackjeeves.com/comics/1990785/fits-to-a-t/ shows Joan the T-shirt]]. (Also a ShoutOut to ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}''.)
** Also, it's not polite to say "don't get all bent out of shape" to a man with a [[http://eheroes.smackjeeves.com/comics/2111619/bent-out-of-shape/ spinal injury]].

** Probably the most famous example is the recurring character known as "the Elephant in the Room", a cartoon elephant who shows up expecting the Critic to address the viewers' thoughts, usually on a touchy subject. He first appears in his review of ''The NeverEnding Story Part II'', coercing the Critic into addressing the suicide of the film's lead actor Jonathan Brandis.

* In ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'', a bored Aoi complains that [[CelibateHero Kyousuke]] isn't interested in her, and the fish aren't biting. That's not repetition- she's actually fishing in her spare time.