Project onto idiom

Question

Old diaries were not merely for reading, but often became a medium onto which a reader projected their emotions.

I get that projected onto is an idiom but I was taught to never butcher an idiom. It shld be written as is.

Otherwise, I would rewrite it as "often became a medium in which a reader projected their emotions." But it doesn't seem to fit as well as onto..can someone help me parse and analyse this para pls? I dont know how to scrutinise.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

It is not an idiomatic expression. It is a figurative use of "project". You can order it or change it any way you want consistent with good English. When you literally project an image, as from a movie projector, you do so "onto" a screen or wall or something like that, and that is why "onto" is needed.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

centrist12Old diaries were not merely for reading, but often became a medium onto which a reader projected their emotions.

That is not the original text. You changed it. Please don't be disingenuous on our forums; quote sentences exactly as you find them.

It is from a lecture titled "The Emotional Intent Behind Rubbing, Touching and Kissing Medieval Manuscripts"

The readers, probably very religious, were interacting on a deep emotional basis with these beautiful works of art. A diary would not be handled that way, unless it happened to be a beloved great-grandmother who had passed away and the family were trying to remember her through her handwriting.

Manuscripts from the late middle ages were not merely for reading, but often became a medium onto which a reader projected their emotions. For instance, most of the full-page miniatures in the Gough Psalter were heavily and repeatedly handled, as if the reader were physically responding to events being depicted. In the scene of the Baptism of Jesus, the faces of John the Baptist and the angel appear to have been touched and the face and torso of Jesus’ skin wet-touched, as if to bathe it. Likewise, in the scene at the garden of Gethsemane, the exposed skin of the hands and face of Christ were severely rubbed, as if in an attempt to destroy his enemies.

Project onto idiom

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