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Another thing to add to your learnings for the day is the difference between “metaphor” and “onomatopoeia”. The latter is only for words that are related to a particular sound they are describing, e.g., “quack”, “bang”, “sizzle”, “whoosh”.

“Pour over” is the sense you describe would be a metaphor.

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So it’s strange I hear it as a sound describing the action then?

I never thought of it as onomatopoeic before but, if I string the sound out – pooooooour – making the “o” noisy and its pitch rise slowly it does remind me of the sound of a cup being filled from a tap.

Ok, I still think it’s an unusual example but you’ve convinced me.

I retract my earlier comment and replace it with a “today I learned” for me. :)

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