Taking as a point of departure the understanding that metaphors, as linguistic expressions, indicate the thought processes of those who formulate them, the present article explores a specific metaphor that formed part of the discourse of radical Falangism: the definition of the Spanish nation as straight, upright, linear or vertical, in opposition to another Spain that had to be combatted, and which was portrayed as twisted. The argument put forward here is that, by analysing the various metaphorical expressions that arose in the wake of the identification of Spain with an image of linearity, it is possible to examine aspects of Falange nationalism that bring into relief the ideal of a sombre, spare, masculine and austere Spain.