Patrick Brennan of NRO quotes a State Department official: "We're not going to get into what the consequences would be, other than to say that there's a red line...A red line is a red line."
Does this statement imply that "a red line" is no longer a metaphor?
A red line is a red line is a red line, and is NOT a "red line"... The inferred metaphor of understanding (by the reporter and almost any other English-speaking person) is mistaken according to the spokesman. Rather, it is a trivial loop, an identity. Consequently, new information is provided -- the administration is unlikely to respond to movement of forbidden weapons, because a red line may be crossed, metaphorically, but the crossed line is only a red line.
So little parsing, so little time...
