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Tolls another tool in the toolbox - an inapt cliche
Posted on Fri, 2007-05-25 16:27
US Rep John J Duncan top Republican on the House highways subcommittee of said in a press statement today toll roads "have their place in the national toolbox of financing alternatives."
Have any of the people who so glibly use this toolbox cliche ever handled real tools or had reason to assemble them in a toolbox? The suggestion that tolls or concessions are "just another financing tool" doesn't work as metaphor.
The different tools you put in a toolbox perform different tasks. A screwdriver screws in (or out) screws, a hammer drives nails, a chisel chips wood across the grain, a saw cuts a trench through wood or metal or masonry depending on the saw blade etc.
Sure, a butcher of a handyman may sometimes use a screwdriver to chisel the inset for a hinge, and hammer a screw, but the tools serve different purposes.
Tools in a toolbox are not interchangeable devices the way that the tolls are "just another tool in the toolbox" metaphor implies.
It's a lousy cliche we think as we contemplate weekend working on a guest room out back where finding exactly the right tools for the different aspects of the job is half the challenge.
Comment welcome.
TOLLROADSnews 2007-05-25
Have any of the people who so glibly use this toolbox cliche ever handled real tools or had reason to assemble them in a toolbox? The suggestion that tolls or concessions are "just another financing tool" doesn't work as metaphor.
The different tools you put in a toolbox perform different tasks. A screwdriver screws in (or out) screws, a hammer drives nails, a chisel chips wood across the grain, a saw cuts a trench through wood or metal or masonry depending on the saw blade etc.
Sure, a butcher of a handyman may sometimes use a screwdriver to chisel the inset for a hinge, and hammer a screw, but the tools serve different purposes.
Tools in a toolbox are not interchangeable devices the way that the tolls are "just another tool in the toolbox" metaphor implies.
It's a lousy cliche we think as we contemplate weekend working on a guest room out back where finding exactly the right tools for the different aspects of the job is half the challenge.
Comment welcome.
TOLLROADSnews 2007-05-25
