Analogy

I was in conversation with another citizen of the interwebs some days ago. Citizen asserted that a man complementing a woman was the same as a a woman complementing a woman (assuming all participants are hetero). I pointed out that this is quite frequently untrue and spent some time defending the position. The social\cultural relationships are completely different.

Afterwards I was struck by the use of this rhetorical tactic. I'll call it Argument by Analogy. One thing that strikes me is the ubiquity. This tactic is resorted to in all circumstances. The more I think about it the more I fail to understand why this should be so. When one makes use of this device one is asserting that the analogy applies. And not just that the analogy applies, but that applies directly, exactly, and so naturally that it should go unquestioned. I don't know why any of those qualities should necessarily be so.

It is frequently said that such and such is "like riding a bicycle". I don't know of anything much like riding a bicycle. All of the other things are some distance away. And if they are some distance away why is there some necessary connection? On its face this is senseless.

I suspect that these tropes are frequently based on some kind of folk wisdom. You've heard the comparison before and so you make use of it. It seems natural to you. I see no nature in this. Folk wisdom is wrong so frequently as to be completely useless. I'll suggest that you consider discarding all such utterances on the basis of general mental health.

When I hear X is like Y my first thought is why? I don't usually say this of course. I'm not that much fun at parties as it is.