MICHAEL G. DYER

People often rely upon common sayings, or adages, when asked to
characterize stories (either by way of summarization, or title selection).
What are people doing in such cases? Why do adages often serve as an effective
way of characterizing a story, and how are people able to accomplish this?

For instance, when asked to characterize the following story:

In a lengthy interview, Reverend X severely criticized President Carter for having
"denigrated the office of president" and "legitimized pornography" by agreeing to be
interviewed in Playboy magazine. The interview with Reverend X appeared in Pent-
house magazine.

readers often responded with adages such as:

ADG-1: The pot calling the kettle black.
ADG-2: Throwing stones when you live in a glass house.

Clearly, these adages are an effective characterization of MINISTER'S
COMPLAINT. But how do we recognize this fact? By what process does an
"appropriate" adage come to mind, and to what purpose?

Furthermore, when supplied with an adage and a context, some individ-
uals experience remindings from episodes in their lives. For instance, one
individual was first presented with the following:

context: EDUCATION
ADS-3: Closing the barn door after the horse has escaped.

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