> a metaphor that doesn’t actually mean anything. As usual.
It is no longer a metaphor. Like the save icon, It is an idiom or symbol: a metaphor that has kicked the bucket. You can argue[1] that we shouldn't use idioms if we've forgotten what they originally refer to. In the case of "kick the bucket", you'd be right. It would be clearer and more accessible to just say "died". Few people have the sort of visceral memory of an animal being tied up in a bucket[2] and thrashing around that gives the phrase its extra punch. In the case of the save icon, we have no real widely-understood alternative. In the case of the cloud, the same is true. The danger is reinforcing a sense of understanding where there is none--but I'm not sure there is a misunderstanding here.
I assumed (forgive the macabre topic) that "kicking the bucket" referred to the action of kicking over the bucket you are standing on in order to hang yourself.
It is no longer a metaphor. Like the save icon, It is an idiom or symbol: a metaphor that has kicked the bucket. You can argue[1] that we shouldn't use idioms if we've forgotten what they originally refer to. In the case of "kick the bucket", you'd be right. It would be clearer and more accessible to just say "died". Few people have the sort of visceral memory of an animal being tied up in a bucket[2] and thrashing around that gives the phrase its extra punch. In the case of the save icon, we have no real widely-understood alternative. In the case of the cloud, the same is true. The danger is reinforcing a sense of understanding where there is none--but I'm not sure there is a misunderstanding here.
[1] http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit...
[2] a type of butchers frame