figures of speech - Can a single metaphor be 'mixed'?


M-W has the following definition for mixed metaphor:



a figure of speech combining inconsistent or incongruous metaphors



Hence a requirement is that a 'mixed metaphor' contains more than one metaphor.


Eric Lippert comments in another thread:



"mixed metaphor" is more commonly used to describe the result of accidentally combining two metaphors in a way that does not make sense as a whole. "For me it was stormy in the great sea of life, but then I came to a crossroads."



He does not claim that this is a necessary condition, and I'd agree.


I've just written in another thread:


' "John is a real tiger" works, but "That lion is a real tiger" is best avoided.' Each of these two statements contains a single metaphor.


Does any definition of 'mixed metaphor' apply to the inappropriate (incongruous juxtaposing of tenor and obviously related vehicle) metaphor in the second sentence?




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