Metropol

The wooden ornament was a carving of a person or an animal - a sentient being.

The metaphor doesn't really work when you're talking about a studio complex.

Chie wrote:The wooden ornament was a carving of a person or an animal - a sentient being.

The metaphor doesn't really work when you're talking about a studio complex.

I thought one of the standards of sentience was the ability to feel emotion.

Do animals feel emotion?

Perhaps a segue for another topic.

Chie wrote:The wooden ornament was a carving of a person or an animal - a sentient being.

The metaphor doesn't really work when you're talking about a studio complex.

Not necessarily, the navy had the royal crest at the front of ships...

Beep wrote:

Chie wrote:The wooden ornament was a carving of a person or an animal - a sentient being.

The metaphor doesn't really work when you're talking about a studio complex.

Not necessarily, the navy had the royal crest at the front of ships...

Okay, technically the crest was a figure as well. The dictionary says a figure can be a sculptural representation of a person/animal or a decorative shape. Doesn't say anything about buildings though.

What if it's a metaphor?

an extended metaphor, perhaps;
TVC is a symbol of the BBC, crests symbolise people, families, agencies, corporations. Crests can adorn the front of ships in the form of figureheads.

Chie wrote:The metaphor doesn't really work when you're talking about a studio complex.

It does when you're talking about Broadcasting House. Have you never stood back and looked at it? It's just like a ship sailing down Portland Place.

Jovis wrote:What if it's a metaphor?

When a figure adorns the front of a ship it is called a figurehead.

A purely symbolic person at the forefront of an organisation is metaphorically called a figurehead.

A corporation's main building whose use is primarily functional and which I would argue lies at the heart of the operation rather than at the front of it, is not a figurehead.

Nick Harvey wrote:

Chie wrote:The metaphor doesn't really work when you're talking about a studio complex.

It does when you're talking about Broadcasting House. Have you never stood back and looked at it? It's just like a ship sailing down Portland Place.

You could call Broadcasting House the BBC's flagship building but it's not a figurehead. The statues at the front of it could be called figureheads though.

*bored*

Today we found out that Beep is rubbish at being pretentious.

Sput wrote:Today we found out that Beep is rubbish at being pretentious.

If only that were the case, however, I wasn't trying to be pretentious.