A metaphor (the word originally meant “to carry across” in Greek) is a figure of speech that merges two seemingly different objects or ideas. We usually think of metaphors as figurative devices that only poets create, but, in fact, all of us make metaphors during almost every moment of our waking lives. As T.E. Hulme observed, “Prose is a museum, where all the old weapons of poetry are kept.”

Take the political expression “to throw one’s hat in the ring.” The phrase probably derives from the custom of tossing one’s hat into the boxing ring to signal the acceptance of a pugilist’s challenge. Once the hat is thrown, the candidates start engaging in political infighting as they slug it out with their opponents.

Then there’s the idiom “to carry the torch for someone.” During the 19th century, a dedicated follower showed support for a political candidate by carrying a torch in an evening campaign parade. A fellow who carried a torch in such a rally didn’t care who knew that he was wholeheartedly behind his candidate. Later the term was applied to someone publicly (and obsessively) in love.

One more metaphor that was originally literal attaches to bandwagons, high wagons large enough to hold a band of musicians. Early bandwagons were horse-drawn through the streets in order to publicize an upcoming event. Political candidates would ride a bandwagon through a town, and those who wished to show their support would “hop [or climb] on the bandwagon” and ride with the candidate and his blaring band.

For well more than a century, until the start of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second term, Inauguration Day was held on March 4 (“March forth!”). That date was changed to Jan. 20 in part because it often created a five-month period in which a departing president and members of Congress were lame ducks.

Lame duck may be a qualification of the American compound dead duck, an outgoing politician who is not quite dead, merely lamely ineffective until March 4 of the following year.

Horses and horse racing have created the dominant animal metaphors that gallop through political life. One of the earliest of equine metaphors is dark horse. The figure refers to a political candidate who is nominated unexpectedly, usually as a result of compromise between two factions in a party. Dark horse candidates who became president include James Polk in 1844, Franklin Pierce in 1852, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, James Garfield in 1880 and Warren G. Harding in 1920.

Presidents have running mates. This too is a horse racing term and derives from the practice of one owner or one stable running two horses in a race, the slower one being put in there to pace the star. The pacesetter was known as the star’s running mate.

The phrase has been around for more than a century, but its use to define a vice president was coined by, of all nonpractitioners of slang, the most scholarly, the most ecclesiastical of presidents, Woodrow Wilson.

At the Democratic convention in 1912, the presidential nomination went to Wilson on the 46th ballot after a terrific brawl. Gov. Wilson of New Jersey announced that his vice presidential choice would be another governor, Thomas Marshall, and announced, “And I feel honored by having him as my running mate.” Wilson’s turn of phrase brought the house down, the only squeak of humor those assembled had ever heard out of Woodrow Wilson.

Presidential jockeying for position got out of the gate very early this year. Will the old war horse and his running mate, saddled with economic woes, be put out to pasture? It remains to be seen whether the presidential contest of 2012 will turn out to be a runaway or a real horse race. Will the challenger give the front-runner a run for his money? At this point, nobody’s a shoo-in.

Please send your questions and comments about language to richard.lederer@utsandiego.com verbivore.com