Log in or Sign up

Metaphors We Live By

A list of 21 words by oroboros.

About

By George Lakoff and Mark Johnson

"Metaphor is for most people a device of the poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourish--a matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary language. Moreover, metaphor is typically viewed as characteristic of language alone, a matter of words rather than thought or action. For this reason, most people think they can get along perfectly well without metaphor. We have found, on the contrary, that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.

The concepts that govern our thought are not just matters of the intellect. They also govern our everyday functioning, down to the most mundane details. Our concepts structure what we perceive, how we get around in the world, and how we relate to other people. Our conceptual system thus plays a central role in defining our everyday realities. If we are right in suggesting that our conceptual system is largely metaphorical, then the way we think, what we experience, and what we do every day is very much a matter of metaphor.

But our conceptual system is not something we are normally aware of. In most of the little things we do everyday, we simply think and act more or less automatically along certain lines. Just what these lines are is by no means obvious. One way to find out is by looking at language. Since commmunication is based on the same conceptual system we use in thinking and acting, language is an important source of evidence for what that system is like.

Primarily on the basis of linguistic evidence, we have found that most of our ordinary conceptual system is metaphorical in nature. And we have found a way to begin to identify in detail just what the metaphors are that structure how we perceive, how we think, and what we do..."

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • yaybob commented on the list metaphors-we-live-by

    We can't have metonymy without synecdoche. (This was a difficult subject that I once pored over and kept some notes that I thought were helpful and that I'd like to share.)

    The following are all nested: a synecdoche is a type of metonymy, which is a type of metaphor, which in turn is a type of trope, which is one of the categories of figures of speech.

    (1) Figure of Speech - a word or phrase of figurative language that departs from straightforward, literal language and that is crafted for emphasis, freshness, convenience or clarity. There are two main types: schemes and tropes

    (2) Trope - a rhetorical figure of speech that consists of using a word or words to mean something other than what is considered its literal or normal meaning (cf. scheme, the other category of figure of speech, which involves changing the pattern of words in a sentence or letters in a word through omission, repetition, or transposition: "love me do" or "ne'er-do-well").

    (3) Metaphor - a type of trope that compares two things (like most elements of the list), as in "the death of music," where music is compared to a living thing, "ignorance is bliss," "the king of beasts, "or "a thirst for knowledge" (cf. irony, another type of trope, where a word means it's opposite, as in "that's just great" or litotes, also a trope, as in "not bad")

    (4) Metonymy - a type of metaphor that uses a related object or concept in place of another, as in "the pen is mightier than the sword," where pen represents writing and the sword physical battle, or "the Pentagon" for the Department of Defense.

    (5) Synecdoche - a form of metonymy, in which a part stands for the whole, as in "hired hands" or "my new wheels"

    December 27, 2008

  • oroboros commented on the list metaphors-we-live-by

    Thanks for your input, Yaybob. Your "tropical tour" is a good recap.

    December 27, 2008

  • sarra commented on the list metaphors-we-live-by

    Read this book - loved it (actually, that's not strictly true; I did much prefer Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things for its scope and liveliness). All my notes are on paper though - I must transcribe them.

    December 28, 2008

  • oroboros commented on the list metaphors-we-live-by

    I enjoyed ...Dangerous Things too. I think Philosophy In The Flesh is the best of all. Also, Where Mathematics Comes From (collaboration with Nunez) is great and I highly recommend it.

    December 28, 2008

  • sarra commented on the list metaphors-we-live-by

    I'm somewhere in the middle of Philosophy… but I do prefer linguistics to philosophy, so my preference there is motivated :) I have found the introduction to the building of mathematics quite fascinating, though, so I may move on to that one next. I'm engluttoning myself with Lakoff!

    December 28, 2008

  • rolig commented on the list metaphors-we-live-by

    You've got me thinking again, after many years, about Owen Barfield and his book Poetic Diction, which examines myth and metaphor as being at the root of language.

    December 28, 2008

  • oroboros commented on the list metaphors-we-live-by

    Well, I must say I'm gratified for this interest on everybody's part. 'Zactly why I created the list in the first place...I, uh, think!!

    December 29, 2008