WikiMet

WikiMet is the proposal for an organic database of metaphors and connotations that surround a concept. It is helpful to anyone brainstorming a metaphor; and also good for AI "commonsense" software to help computers better understand human language.

See: ProjectMetaphor.org

Example metaphors for "Network"

HasMetaphor___SpiderWeb
HasMetaphor___Fabric
HasMetaphor___Scaffold
HasMetaphor___Internet
HasMetaphor___Highway System
HasMetaphor___Economy
HasMetaphor___Mycelium
HasMetaphor___HoneyComb
HasMetaphor___Reticulum
HasMetaphor___Splay
HasMetaphor___City
HasMetaphor___Grid

Along with every metaphoric value, there should be room for an example sentence, or quotation, to qualify the metaphor.

A CLOSER LOOK: ONE LEXICAL UNIT WITH EXAMPLE SENTENCES

Word: Crowd (n.)
Definition/ Wordsense: "a large number of persons gathered closely together; throng."
Synonyms: crush, drove, flock, horde, mass, mob, multitude, press, ruck, swarm, throng
Metafícs: Sea, forest, fire, field, essay, river, quarry, grove, nest, pack, school, hurumph, traffic jam, phalanx, cloth, etc.
Examples/Qualifiers:
1.) the sea: "the firm earth shaken by the rushes of an angry ocean which had now no ebb but was always on the flow, higher and higher, to the terror and wonder of the beholders on the shore" (A Tale of Two Cities, 243). Like the sea, the crowds of the French Revolution cannot be contained. The sea has one language; it is not divided up into individual peoples and territories; it is dense and cohesive; it is never entirely still; it is persistent; its droplets are harmless alone but together they are powerful; it has a voice. It is unapologetic.
2.) Fire, like the crowd, can not be contained; however, it is an effective crowd symbol for different reasons than the sea. Fire spreads; fire attracts men; it is contagious and insatiable; the more life a thing has, the less it can defend itself against fire; fire is indiscriminant; it is treated as though it were alive. It lives restlessly and dies.
3.) the Forest: "man stands upright like a tree and inserts himself among other trees…once in the forest, men feel sheltered"(Elias Canetti). The forest is a limited crowd metaphor: "The forest does not flee under any circumstances, it allows itself to be cut down before it gives a foot of ground" (Canetti)--it is a limited crowd symbol because it does not take into account the discharge of the crowd.

Associated Adjectives: claustrophobic, envigorating, unified, forceful, powerful, slow, angry, obedient, impressionable vs. disobedient, unapologetic, etc.

Because metaphors rely on the connotation of an object (rather than its literal definition), there should also be room for a user to add connotations to a given concept. Connotations can be thought of as a step towards metaphor.

EXAMPLE OF CONNOTATIONS

"CAT"
HasSalientProperty__Aloof
HasSalientProperty__Skiddish
HasSalientProperty__Independent
HasSalientProperty__Finicky
HasSalientProperty__clean
HasSalientProperty__proud

A wikipedia of metaphors and connotations will create word frames around concepts that roughly resemble what comes to mind when that word or concept is uttered.